


Confections

by Masdevallia



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Cute, F/M, Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation Spoilers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Light-Hearted, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:32:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7103500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masdevallia/pseuds/Masdevallia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Takumi concedes and decides to finally hang out with Elise after his initial resistance to her. What he doesn't expect is his growing feelings for the girl.</p><p>Takes place immediately after their A-Rank, includes Revelation spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bonbons

**Author's Note:**

> It's weird. I initially didn't like this pairing compared to the others, but some time after I finished my first Revelation playthrough, they grew on me and I started to think to myself, "hmm, what could have swayed my angry little pineapple to fall for this cinnamon roll"? Also, there's NOTHING on this pairing (least that focuses on them) so I decided to take on the challenge.

“Well, I guess I could stick around for a little while. It's the least I could do, really…” Takumi said, placing his hand behind his back. He smoothed his ponytail behind him while waiting for the girl to come back from her room. She was back within seconds, with something small in her hands.

The girl standing in front of him proved to be an unstoppable force and he felt the need to show her some level of respect for her persistence in trying to play with him. He was both surprised and relieved to know that she was quick to forgive him, that she was fair and so open minded, unlike him, who was so reticent and stubborn to the point that someone had to die for him to even show some level of forgiveness towards someone he loved, even. Maybe he could learn from this girl. 

“Here, then!” Princess Elise of Nohr walked over to Takumi and gave him a white and gold wrapper. 

“What is this?” he asked, genuinely curious to know what this was. His fingers fidgeted around the wrapper and it crinkled. It had a round texture underneath the wrapper.

“These are bonbons. They’re mine and Camilla’s favorites and a Nohrian delicacy.” Takumi had spoken to Camilla a few times and he found her both equal parts intimidating and attractive.

“Oh,” he said.

“You can unwrap it! I don’t know what you’re waiting for.” He twisted the sides of the wrapper and inside was a perfectly round brown candy. Its texture was so smooth for something so tiny. He wanted to know how in that world that was possibly made, as it was unlike anything in Hoshido.

“There’s two ways to eat them, which I’ve named them the Camilla and the Elise,” she said, popping the entire candy in her mouth right after finishing her sentence.

“That must be the Elise way, then. Eating it all in one go?”

“Yesh,” she said while still chewing. She swallowed the confection. “Camilla likes to eat it slowly, savoring every bit of it. But I always want more.”

Takumi decided to bite off half of the candy, meeting them halfway. He was half surprised to see there was a light brown liquid under it. Except it wasn’t liquid. It was clearly caramel.

The candy melted in his tongue, the sweet taste overpowering his mouth. He hoped Elise hadn’t given Sakura this because she would have easily wiped these candies off the face of the earth.

“Oh wow! You must really like them!”

He hadn’t noticed he closed his eyes in contentment. He was quick to open them again, watching a delighted Elise lace her fingers together over her heart.

Takumi was glad he had half of the bonbon left, but at the same time there was that feeling that it was his last bite. Still, he didn’t hesitate to finish it off. “So these are popular in Nohr?”

She nodded. “Uh-huh. They’re so many types too. There’s strawberries, berries, caramel, and so many more I can’t even think off the top of my head. I’ll try to fish out more out of Camilla’s room.”

They were currently in her and Camilla’s treehouse while he and Sakura shared their own quarters, which wasn’t too far away. Sakura was busy manning the rod shop and he was pretty sure it was Camilla’s turn to run the weapons store, since she wasn’t around. Takumi thought it was the perfect time to have come and make amends with Elise without her older sister serving as a distraction.

Elise began to make her way into another door in the treehouse.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“We are _we_ going, you mean to ask,” she said, giggling. “We’re just going to Camilla’s room and searching for more bonbons. I know where she keeps them. I’ll take one of each and we’ll share them.”

“Isn’t Camilla going to get angry?” Elise opened the door to Camilla’s room. It looked just like Takumi’s room with a king sized bed (except this one had purple sheets the same shade of her hair), a golden box under the foot of her bed, and a large array of axes neatly placed on both corners surrounding her bed and a gigantic one arranged on her wall right behind the bed. Takumi gulped. He didn’t want to be on the receiving end of her axe just because he and her sister invaded her privacy.

“No, silly. If I tell her I was introducing you to Nohrian culture, she’d totally forgive us. Besides, it’s not like we’re taking _all_ of her candies!”

“I suppose. Though if I’m being honest, I’ve forbidden Sakura from doing that to me.”

“Really? I can’t imagine someone as sweet as Sakura stealing!”

“Stealing? Is that what we’re calling what we’re doing?” he said as she bent down and opened the box..

“No! I just…” Elise’s face flustered as her eyes widened, knowing he had gotten her in her place. “I just want to make you happy. Camilla would understand. Trust me, I know my sister more than anyone!” Elise winked at him before rummaging through the box. She found a silk bag with a golden thread tying the top of it. “Okay! Here it is. I’ll just take a few.” Takumi only counted three of them in her hands.

They both left the room and went into the main area, where Elise sat on a chaise and patted down, expecting Takumi to take his place besides her.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said, feeling uncomfortable at the notion of standing besides a girl who was in the same position of power as he was. He didn’t want to put her in any kind of compromising situation if Camilla or one of the retainers walked in.

“How else are we gonna share? You sitting across from me?”

“Yes,” he said.

Elise rolled her eyes. None of her older siblings must have taught her proper royal etiquette. Or they did and she didn’t care.

“It’s improper,” he said.

“We’ve already been improper anyway, Takumi. I don’t even call you Prince Takumi.” He went through their earlier short lived conversations and he remembered he didn’t address her by “Princess Elise” just as she didn’t. It was also in that moment he realized she definitely knew of royal etiquette and didn’t bother to care.

She was the fourth in line anyway, why would she?

Takumi sighed in resignation and sat down next to Elise, who unwrapped a pink bonbon under the same wrapper. It was strange being in close proximity to a girl that wasn't in his family or one of his close friends, but Elise was going about it all casually in comparison to his awkward need to sit up straight as if he were some kind of inanimate object next to her.

“You know, I like to think since we’re friends, so when you and me are all alone, we can just ignore all of that and be ourselves.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re always like this, Elise.”

“I am? Oh, that’s great!” she said, about to pop the bonbon in her mouth.

“Wait!” he said, stopping her, his hand on the arm which held Elise’s bonbon. He felt his face redden and he let go. He felt idiotic for making such a gesture.

Elise smiled and shook her head. “Right! I’m so happy you’ve stopped me! Thank you, Takumi!” She opened her mouth bit exactly half of it.

Takumi winced as she chewed, handing over the other half.

He stared at the candy centered in the palm of her hand.

“What?” she said.

“You just...bit into it!” he said.

“We’re sharing, aren’t we?” she said, swallowing her piece.

“But…”

“Oh! I don’t have germs, Takumi. I’m not sick or anything, trust me, I’m a medic!” He hesitated, staring at the dark red filling in at the core of the bonbon. Elise giggled. “Did you grow out of your cootie phase? Is that it?”

“What is it with you Nohrian girls teasing me?” he snatched the candy out of her hand and bit into it. This one was astronomically different than the last one. The cherry flavor hit him like a wave instantly, but as he kept chewing, the subdued strawberry flavor took over and lingered during the aftertaste.

He didn’t notice Elise was oddly quiet. “I’m sorry for teasing you. I didn’t mean to come off that way. I usually share like this with Xander and Leo.”

“But they’re your brothers.”

“And Arthur and Effie,” she continued.

“They’re your retainers,” he finished. “I’m the prince from the enemy kingdom as far as we’re concerned and that’s why I spent so much time dodging you.”

“I really need to teach you to loosen up.” She unwrapped the second candy, this one was brown with gold streaks. There was no filling inside this one, instead there was what looked like a nut.

“So not all of them have fillings?” he asked.

“Nope. Some of them have peanuts or walnuts or almonds. You’re not allergic, are you?”

“No,” he said, taking his half.

“That’s good. Maybe I’ll cook for you someday and I like throwing stuff like that in my dishes.” She was being too much, even now. Takumi swallowed the candy, the taste of walnuts feeling rough on his tongue. It wasn’t his favorite of the three so far, having a very dry taste compared to the others, which just burst with flavor.

“That one is Xander’s favorite, by the way.”

“It’s not mine, that's for sure.”

"I thought so, but this is a taste test. That’s why we gotta figure out where your tastes lie.” The third one was a rich shade of black. It was the most bitter of the bunch and its filling was even more bitter. It tasted like coffee and chocolate.

Takumi found himself giving a soft noise of approval at the bitter taste.

“That one’s Leo’s favorite! It’s dark chocolate with coffee in the center,” she said, confirming his suspicions.

“I like this one.”

“Okay, now the last one and no more!”

“Okay, he said, nodding. This one a shade of brown much like the first one but when Elise gave him his half, he was surprised to see it was pink. The taste took him completely by surprise, as he expected it to be strawberry, but it was something else he couldn’t place. It was completely foreign to him and thus unidentifiable. “What’s this one?”

“Rosewater. It’s not Nohrian, but the makers went to Cyrkensia and bought it for their filling. It’s pretty exotic, isn’t it? I didn’t know what to make of it when I first had it myself.”

Takumi’s head lowered over the mention of Cyrkensia, knowing it was in shambles. The memory of seeing Ryoma as an enemy stung at Takumi as they ignored the third party attacking him and Elise’s brother. Elise hadn't been there to see the anger in her brother's eyes, especially when he called her a traitor. He felt a sense of relief that Elise hadn't joined them at the time. Camilla had described the state of Cyrkensia to her sister when she joined, serving it as a warning for the dangers to come, yet Elise still insisted on joining. Maybe she was stubborn much like he was, but in her own way.

“Oh right…” Elise said sadly. “When this is all over, we’ll help rebuild Cyrkensia, I promise. That way we can have more of these!”

Takumi snorted at her words. Elise gave him an unsure smile.

“But of course, our goal as the younger royals is to help make the world a better place, since we’re not ruling. But I can’t do it alone because it takes a lot of work. Are you in with me?”

He was surprised at how little words it took for her to express her ultimate objective, which was to help the world become a better place. Elise gave off the vibe that she was young and immature, especially since she seemed so focused on passing the time eating candies and wanting to play games with him, but maybe that was her motivation, to make a new friend. One who could stand besides her and change things for the better.

Takumi found himself respecting that.

“Yes. I’m with you all the way.”

There was something of a comfortable silence between the two of them but as expected, Elise broke it.

“I have to say, I kinda want more of these.”

“Me too,” he said.

“I know I said only a few but it can't hurt to take just a little bit more, right, Takumi?”

“Since we’re sharing and all that, aren't we?” he said, recalling her earlier words. “A cultural exchange.”

“Yeah!”

Both of them got off the chaise at the exact same time and raided Camilla's box for more candy, wishing to share some more with one another.


	2. A Heart to Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Takumi and Elise face a somewhat unexpected heart-to-heart.

Elise was busy setting up the chess pieces while Takumi observed her. The board was much more different than the shogi boards Takumi was used to with black and white tiles and black and white figurines to match. These were made of ivory and Takumi absently played with a white piece that had the head of a horse.

“So this was that chess game you wanted to play,” Takumi said. Elise used this game as a way to initially break the ice between them and it didn’t work, but the truth was that he was interested. Takumi liked playing these games, using it as means to an end to sharpen his mind and learn new ways to strategize. He was already a decent shogi player, the best in his family by far, so how different would chess be?

“Yup! I’m only good at teaching it, so I’m pretty sure you’ll probably beat me after the first few matches. I still like to play it, even if my losing streak is about the same as my winnings,” Elise said, setting up the final pieces. They were plain and ordinary looking and if Takumi had to make an educated guess, they were pawns, just like in shogi.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well…” she drawled, “I tend to win when I play with Arthur, Effie, or Camilla...or even Xander!” she said excitedly at that last one. Elise paused, “But Leo’s the real champ. He’s got chess trophies in his room in Nohr to prove it!” she said giggling. 

Takumi rolled his eyes at the mention of that insufferable bookworm who rescued Sakura when Zola grabbed her. “Nerd,” he said. “But I suppose if the time came if I had to play with that annoying little…” Takumi paused noticing Elise’s violet eyes were wide and upon him, he couldn’t be crude about her brother, not when she was actively showing him genuine kindness, “...person...I’d be prepared and maybe I’d have a shot at winning.”

Elise giggled some more. “There’s no fault in having a healthy competitive spirit, I always say! Okay, are you ready to know the rules?”

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“This will be a warm-up game, no wins, no losses. We just have to study the board.” Elise’s right hand hovered over one of the center pawn pieces. “This little guy right here is called a pawn.  It’s easy to feel bad for him because he’s always the first to go, aren’t you, little guy?” Elise said to the piece.

“Elise...I think we should focus on the game rather than talking to the pieces,” Takumi said. His fingers curled in impatience against his lap as he wanted her to get the the parts that were foreign to him. He was careful to control this sudden onslaught of annoyance from her overeager ways. 

“Hee-hee! Yeah. Sorry! Okay! So the goal in chess is to capture your opponent’s piece and take them for yourself.”

“Can you get them back and use them as a counterattack?” he asked.

“Nope. Once I have your piece and vice versa, they’re gone forever! Unless...we start a brand new game!” Elise began to explain a little more about the pieces, and despite there being knights and bishops, there were no generals, no lances, no promoted rook, or a promoted bishop and Takumi mentally subtracted those few pieces from his head, keeping their Nohrian counterparts into consideration. He was surprised by how little resources chess relied on and how Shogi’s rules allowed for lengthier games while chess was meant to be short, swift, and brutal by comparison.

However, the biggest difference was the second largest ivory piece in the back. “This girl is the queen. She’s really powerful, proving you can’t underestimate girls at all.” It was in that moment when Camilla had come home from her shift at the weapons shop, as if Elise was willing her to come in.

“Oh hello, my little darlings!” Camilla said with a coo. “Teaching our Hoshidan friend how to play chess, I see?”

“Yup! I’m on queen!”

“You’re going to have a great time, Prince Takumi. Elise is a such a marvelous player, aren’t you Elise?” If it were Takumi himself she was speaking to, he would have tried to call her our on coddling him, but instead, Elise beamed at her sister. 

“Alright, so this little lady is the strongest piece. She can go diagonally or in a straight line, “ Elise continued as Camilla floated about the room. Takumi was trying not to allow her presence to distract him, but once again, he was feeling this terrible sense of guilt for wronging a Nohrian princess yet again. He wanted to come clean to her about him and Elise binging on her entire bonbon stash. 

Camilla noticed Takumi’s sudden stiffness when they made eye contact. “Is something wrong, Prince Takumi?” she asked.

“N-no! Forgive me, but you look weary,” he said in an attempt to divert the sudden attention.

“Yeah, managing the shops is quite boring! I don’t know what to do since the staff shop rarely gets customers!” Elise said.

“You’re right. I had the blonde girl, the sickly sweet one trying to get a discount on a lance for her big bear friend. She’s not as sickly sweet as we all thought she was,” Camilla said, leaving it at that while smoothing her hair. “I might take a bath...or nap. Oh! I know just the thing!”

Camilla left the living quarters and went straight into her room. Takumi froze, hating himself for instigating whatever it was that Camilla had in mind. As long as it wasn’t the bonbons she was thinking of…

Elise was also quiet. She moved the queen’s piece back to the board, her violet eyes once again locking with Takumi, never wavering as they waited for Camilla to settle. 

“Elise, darling,” Camilla’s voice carried from the other room. “My precious bonbons. Where did I put them?”

“Um, did you check your closet?” Elise said, standing up, crossing over to where Takumi was sitting.

“I know they’re not in there. I just had one last night after dinner in the mess hall to make up for that insult of a meal Silas made. To think I used to think of him as cute…”

“Elise, no!” Takumi mouthed as Elise stretched her hand to escort Takumi out of the treehouse. Elise nodded defiantly.

“We gotta go!” she mouthed back, her eyes wide. 

“Elise—” Takumi began, but was interrupted by Camilla. 

“Elise, did you eat all of my bonbons while I was away?” she asked, her voice getting nearer. She caught Elise in the act standing up within inches of Takumi, her hands extended in an effort to make a getaway. 

“Uh...uh…” Elise said in a rare stammer as Camilla’s face changed from her usual adoring face to one of calm fury. “Oh no!” She grabbed Takumi’s hand with a force he didn’t expect from her scurried away from the treehouse, dragging him along. 

“Elise, what are you doing?” Takumi yelled as they ran down the wooden spiral ramp, their feet clicking in discord. Elise’s heels clacked at a much more desperate pace as she continued to hold his hand, leading him down.

“Camilla’s angry! We gotta let her cool off!”

“How long does it take her to cool off?”

“I don’t know!” Elise said clearly in distress. 

“You don’t know? You’re her sister! You’re supposed to know these things!”

“Bonbons are serious business to her and you saw how stressed out she was! It could be hours, maybe a day or two!” They reached the end of the ramp. Elise paused for a moment, hitching her breath. “The stables!” she said, as if caught in a eureka moment. She dragged Takumi inside the stables that connected to their treehouse. Takumi and Sakura didn’t have mounts, but Elise and her sister did. 

Takumi ignored the vicious looking wyvern with the red eyes while Elise hastily mounted her horse. She motioned for Takumi to get up.

“What? I’m not riding on that thing!” he said, crossing his arms. 

“Now’s not the time to be like this, please!”

“Elise!” Takumi heard Camilla’s yell, her voice displaying her inner malice that Takumi knew she was capable of.

“Okay, fine!” Feeling a sudden sense of fear, he got up and took his place behind Elise. 

The horse took off just as Camilla entered the stables. “You naughty children!” she said, crossing her arms. “I will find you and when I do, I will give you the punishment you deserve.”

Her words struck a chill in Takumi’s bones, knowing what she was capable of in battle. Camilla wasn’t the type to ever bluff, and he knew it. 

“So now what?” he asked. 

“Haven’t thought of the next part. Um, there’s the Hoshidan glade,” Elise said while the poor horse was galloping at full speed. 

“Too obvious. Why don’t we try one of the deeprealms?” he asked. 

“What if time passes by and we end up over-aging?” she said, once again reminding Takumi that she was oddly wise whenever she chose the time for it.

“True. But we gotta think of something...Oh, I know! Wasn’t there a prison just built?” she said.

“Isn’t the whole point of this to  _ escape  _ punishment?”

“There’s no one there! Who’s gonna check if there are no prisoners?”

Takumi sighed as Elise already began to steer her horse in the prison’s direction. It was the best plan made on such a short notice. The only problem was Elise trying to shoo in her reluctant horse into the prison, but Elise proved to be both persuasive and firm with her horse, it eventually conceding. That and Takumi had to assume it had a docile nature. He had heard tales of horses trying to eat their master’s hairs in defiance.

Takumi stood awkwardly while Elise ran her fingers through her horse’s mane, willing it to stay calm. She hummed a tune and the horse’s posture relaxed. 

“It’s a good thing she likes you,” Elise finally said, her eyes still on the horse. “I should teach you how to ride a horse. It’s actually quite fun.” 

Takumi sat down in a corner, feeling a sudden sense of despondency at how he was acting with Elise. “You keep offering to teach me all of these things and yet I haven’t once made an offer for you.” Elise placed a hand on her cheek in surprise. 

“Oh wow! I didn’t realize!”

“Not that there’s much I can do other than shogi and archery. I’m useless compared to the rest of my siblings.” He pushed his legs back, bringing them up to his chest. 

“Don’t say that!” Elise said leaving her horse be and getting closer to him. She bent down, her knees barely touching the group. “We’ve only just made amends! And I was planning on teaching you all these things for quite a while! You can just take your time and once we find something, you can teach me, alright?”

It didn’t matter that Elise was being sincere with him, the thoughts were already pushing through him on how useless he was. If this were Ryoma, he would have charmed her in seconds rather than Takumi’s own need to be so obstinate even when this girl was very clearly not a threat. 

Elise sat down across from him, using both her hands in playing with one of her twintails, stroking it from the middle to the edge and back again. “So, um, you said Sakura did the same thing, right?”

Takumi nodded, still feeling downcast and guilty over his prior treatment of Elise. 

“What did you do?”

“I would extend her archery lessons by at least an hour during training.”

Elise gasped. “Oh, I’ve fought with her before. She’s really good! I didn’t know that was  _ you _ teaching her.”

“Hmph,” he grunted, looking down. He half wanted for Camilla to burst in and punish them already.

“No, seriously! Last time, Sakura shielded me and I think she got angry and she said something along the lines of ‘Here goes nothing!’ and then she pierced that invisible force right through the chest. Then she cried after saying, ‘rest in peace’ but it was pretty amazing to see what good aim she has even when we can't see the bad guy!”

Takumi raised his head, meeting Elise, who was swept away by telling her own story. It  _ did  _ sound an awful like Sakura.

“You don’t have to believe me, but the truth is, we wouldn’t be standing here in one piece. Then again, we’re both healers, tee-hee!” Even when Takumi was bringing the mood down, she was still a burst of energy. How did she do this? How could she be this way when her older sister was hunting her down for eating her candies? When there were invisible forces out to get them? When their lives were in constant danger and there was ruin and destruction at every turn? 

Elise got closer to him and sat up against the wall, her legs slack. 

“Please don’t feel bad about earlier. Don’t feel bad about anything. Please, pretty please?” Her hand hovered over to his, her fingertips grazing the back of his palms. He flinched, his natural instinct for not liking to be touched manifesting. Elise backed out immediately. “Sorry…”

Takumi swallowed and closed his eyes. “No, it’s okay.” He mirrored Elise’s position and brought his hand closer to hers, grazing her fingertips. Her hands were smooth and well moisturized. It felt shockingly intimate as Elise smiled and reciprocated. 

“Your hands are calloused,” she said. “You must practice a lot.”

“I carry Fujin Yumi everywhere I go,” he said as her fingers continued to lightly touch those rough spots. There was a silence as she raised an eyebrow, noticing he didn’t have it on him. “Except now because I wanted to enter your treehouse in good form.”

The horse huffed, sending Takumi out of his stupor. 

“I’d like to hang out with you tomorrow again. Maybe not teaching, but we can keep it simple. I have my fairy tales. I’m sure you’ve got books you can share with me. You  _ did  _ seem awfully interested the books I showed you...”

Takumi laughed. “Yeah, I guess I did, but I’d like to leave this wretched place before the day is over.”

Elise whined, her hand now gripping his. “Oh, but we can play a game! One where I’d be the prisoner and you’d be the jailer. Or maybe…maybe...maybe you could persuade me to join our cause for eight rolls of cabbages!” He laughed harder, knowing no one in their right mind would fight for eight rolls of measly cabbage.

It was clear to him that he saw a critical character flaw in her, but it somehow humanized her. “Elise, I’ll admit, this all pretty amusing, but you didn’t even give yourself a chance to explain things to Camilla like you said you would. Sometimes we have to confront the problem head-on, even if it means we have to suffer the consequences.” It was a huge leap, but he emphasized this by properly grabbing her hand in an effort for her to know how serious this was to him. “I have just as much responsibility in this as you do.”

“Yeah…” Elise said, nodding.

It was in that moment when Camilla burst in.

“I found you, naughty children.” Her eyes fell lower. “Oh? Am I interrupting something?” she said, clearly fixated on their held hands. 

Takumi let go. “N-no!”

Elise stood up, her countenance confident. “Sorry, Camilla. I wasn’t being truthful. Thing is, I wanted Takumi to try some of our bonbons, since he’s never had any before and we kinda got carried away and then I dragged him out here, afraid of what you’d do to us. We really didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!”

Camilla crossed her arms. “Well, that’s quite an explanation, my little darling and I’ll admit I overreacted a little, having had such a tough day at the armory. You did it to make our friend happy and although I may not be reunited with my precious candy for a while. Although it pains me, I will be forced to find a substitute to satisfy my sugar craving.”

Elise got up and tackled Camilla in a hug, all clearly forgiven between the two. Elise turned her head while hugging, flashing Takumi an elated smile. He returned it, albeit not in the same assured manner.

Camilla pulled back. “However, Darling Elise,” she said, pulling out a shield from her backside. “I think I have the perfect punis...er, way to make it all better,” she said, finding her words. It was clear she had realized her initial actions intimidated Elise and she just wanted find common ground with her. “You can help me by taking on a few extra shifts at the armory. Does that sound fair to you?”

Elise nodded. “Very!”

“And our little prince here can rotate with you!”

“What!” Takumi said as both girls laughed, the noise echoing across the prison. He sighed in relief, knowing all was well between the two. Despite that, Camilla was still pretty intimidating, but Elise was a good counter to that. He supposed it was all in good moderation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your positive comments and kudos! I plan on further exploring Takumi's character, because he's probably one of the most complex characters in the entire game with his mood swings and inferiority complexes. Have I mentioned this is just a warm up for other works I have in store? Oh, and expect a sequel to this chapter somewhere along the line.
> 
> This chapter was last edited on 8/30/16 (fixed minor errors and added more detail to Camilla's rationale at the end)


	3. Fairy Tales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elise introduces Takumi to fairy tales, with mixed results.

Takumi was lying down backwards on the edge of his bed, reading a book about Hoshido’s topography and cities. He was able to get a feel of the various mountain ranges that Hoshido was known for and his fingers ran through Shirasagi. He turned to the page, which focused on detailing Shirasagi, where there were pictures of it during better times. He couldn't bear to look at the fountain where everything started, but with everything else...

He was homesick, plain and simple, and although he didn’t dare act like it in front of Sakura, he wanted to lament over the little things he missed, such as the markets and their delectable foods and the comfort of his real bedroom. Not this artificially created treehouse made by some dragon bird thing. If Takumi showed any kind of emotion, especially in front of Sakura, things would fall apart like a house of cards and both of them would lose their will to participate in battle and if Kagero and Saizo could fight without their master, they could fight without Ryoma and Hinoka having to back them up.

There was a knock on his door and Takumi sat up from his bed. 

“What is it?” he said, putting the book down. 

“Takumi, you have a visitor,” Sakura said from the other side. 

He got up from his bed and opened the door. Sakura was standing in front of the door, giving him a steady smile.  She was dressed in her healing robes. Takumi assumed she was called to run some kind of medical related errand as the time for the the skies to change color was fast approaching in the normal world. He could hear whispers of members in the army bracing for impact, especially with Azura, who was even more aloof than usual.

Elise was standing in the living room in her Nohrian medical gear. She was equipped with a large black satchel that also held a staff.

“All right Sakura, it’s time for us to change shifts. Hey Takumi! I was hoping you’d be here!”

He hadn’t seen Elise in what felt like weeks, even though they had seen each other in battle during their visit to the Rainbow Sage. Ever since the incident with Camilla, she had taken up shifts at the Dusk Amory as well as the clinic, causing her to be unexpectedly busy. She said she wanted to hang out with him the next day, but when that day came, there were numerous distractions and they just kept mounting.

“Princess Elise,” he said, remembering to be formal. Even though Hinoka and Ryoma weren’t around, he still wanted to be a halfway decent role model for Sakura.

She smiled at the two of them. “Sakura, they’re all waiting for you, but you and Felicia have your work cut out for you, but you’re still needed.”

“Oh, o-okay,” Sakura said, bowing. “Maybe I’ll be back e-early and we can p-practice our song again.” Sakura and Elise had notably stuck a quick friendship sometime after Elise joined their cause, which Takumi used a good reason to stop his harsh treatment of Elise.

“I would love to! But Corrin and Azura are demanding we give everyone really detailed exams. Nyx and Mister Shura are taking forever to examine!” Elise took out what looked like a folder. “This is the do-si-eh—”

“Dossier,” Takumi corrected.

“Yeah! That! Um, do-si-errr,” Elise said, still unable to pronounce the word, “Jakob wrote for us to complete sooo…”

Sakura nodded. “I understand. I-I’ll be on my way!” she bowed, while grabbing her own satchel and led herself out of their treehouse. 

Elise sighed. “Takumi! That was so exhausting!” She strode from where she was standing in the living area, passed where Takumi was standing, and waltzed straight into his room.

“Elise, wait!” he said, completely surprised she would just walk in uninvited. “You can’t just—”

She crashed into his bed, letting out a satisfied noise at being surrounded by pillows. 

“This is so nice! I’ve been awake since the morning, Takumi. The morning!  _ Early  _ morning!” she said in horror, turning around in his direction. “And having to deal with Jakob during those hours is a pain!”

Takumi had give her that, nodding to Jakob’s irritable behavior. He had one too many experiences with the man and he was something of an acquired taste. Except not really. He was just bitter all around. How anyone could get past him was some kind of feat.

Takumi still didn’t like Elise being in his room, especially if one of her retainers or Camilla came by looking for her. “Why don’t I escort you to your treehouse?” Takumi offered, still hanging by the door. 

“No,” Elise moaned, drawing out the “o”. “Let me stay here for a little while. I don’t want to have to do all that walking! Besides, I brought my fairy tale collection for us to read!” Elise shifted to other side as Elise shuffled through her bag. “Aha! Found it! Come over here, Takumi!”

“Uh…”

“Seriously!” 

He walked over and sat at the edge. Thankfully, she sat up and got closer to him. She had large purple bags under her eyes compared to the last time he had seen her and if it wasn’t for the twintails and her constantly wearing pink and the bows, he would have assumed she aged at least a year. He was no stranger to this happening.

“When was the last time you slept, Elise?” he asked.

“Last night,” she said as if it were the obvious answer. Takumi knew better.

“No, I mean, you  _ really _ slept?”

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently. She legitimately didn’t know what he meant. She wasn’t playing around or dodging the question like he had seen her do in the past.

“No nightmares, no worrying, just the darkness.”

“Hmm, I dunno, actually. It’s been quite a long time.” Her eyes found the topography book on the other side of the bed and saw it turned to a page detailing Shirasagi in particular. “That’s your home, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yes. Ryoma and Hinoka are currently there, still thinking that we’re enemies, even though logic dictates that we aren’t.”

“It’s pretty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many gardens before. I remember growing up, me and Cassita, my nurse, had to plant our own gardens and it cost a pretty coin to plant them. We had a greenhouse in the castle and I would plant the flowers and sell them to help provide for her after father let her go.” There was something melancholy to Elise’s tone as she told her story. “I miss her. I’m always thinking of what she’s doing. How she and Leo and Xander are doing and if they’ll ever believe us.”

A couple of months ago when Elise first joined and tried so hard to win his friendship, he thought all she cared about was for fun and games, but seeing her today and having started paying attention to her actions these past couple of weeks, he saw she was desperately proving she could carry her own weight. 

It reminded him of himself and how he was obsessed with the idea of being the strong one in his family. That him being a second son was not a mere title, that he was important and someone to take seriously. 

The problem was that it was taking a clear toll on her on her well-being. Something he also knew all too well. It was a thought he never had before in his life, but he realized that him and Elise were astoundingly similar. 

“You okay, Takumi?” she said, shaking him out of his reverie. “You miss Hoshido, don’t you?”

“I do…” he said. “Don’t tell Sakura, please.”

“I wouldn’t! It’s just between us.” Elise’s hand moved from the spine of the book, meandering towards his. Her hand was warm and comforting. “What were you thinking of?”

Takumi decided he needed to be honest with her. She deserved that much for being sincere. “We’re actually very alike.”

“Huh? How?”

He chortled at her confusion. “You want to prove yourself to us all. I get it.”

“How’d you know?” she said in surprise. 

“It’s why you were quick to accept Camilla’s punishment and why you’ve been making yourself scarce.”

Elise nodded as if surrendering. “You’re right. You’ve got it all right. I think only you and Leo have figured it out, but you both have very different ways of saying it. Leo says it like it were the most obvious thing but you…” she lingered.

“I what?”

She rolled her shoulders. “You say it like you know what it feels like. You understand.” Elise let go of his hand and handed the fairy tale book to him. She lay down on the side away from where they were once sitting and she turned over to his direction. “Read me one of the tales,  please. Snow White is the first one and I think it’s a perfect introduction to how fairy tales work because you start seeing the same things over and over again in the plot. Do you have fairy tales in Hoshido, Takumi?”

“Perhaps you might be referring to folk tales,” he said. The book was much larger than he anticipated, the orange leather jacket old and worn. He opened the book to the first few pages.

“Hmm, maybe. I’ll just have to find out.”

“‘Once upon a time…’’ he said. 

“Oh! There’s one! They almost always start with ‘once upon a time’!” she said excitedly. Takumi held the book a little bit more tightly, hoping she wouldn’t keep interrupting. “Oops. Sorry. Uh, go on, please.”

“...’In the middle of winter…’ he continued. He kept reading, thankfully with Elise making very few interruptions. The story wasn’t very long and it contained pictures of a girl matching the description of ebony hair and red lips going through numerous adventures while she escaped her evil stepmother and met seven dwarves. Things hit a fever pitch when the girl foolishly ate a poisoned apple and died.

Takumi let down the book, feeling frustrated. “Okay, that makes no sense. First of all, if I had some lady poke through my door, I would have shot her straight into her heart with my bow for tresspassing. Why is she that dumb?” he said. 

Elise laughed. While he read to her, she had pulled the covers and watched him intently. “Well, that’s the way these stories go. The lead characters aren’t really that smart. You just have to go with it.”

“At this rate I’ve decided I want to cheer for the stepmother. At least she was smart enough to coat only the red slices. I have to admit I respect her for thinking ahead,” he said. He continued to read. “‘They stumbled over a tree stump, and with the shock the poisonous piece of apple which Snow White had bitten off came out of her throat, and before long she opened her eyes’— What...what is this story, even?” he asked, wanting to throw the book.

Elise was laughing even harder. “Leo calls it a deux ex machina, meaning the author had to write in a saving throw to please the audience. Oh my gosh, this is so much fun! I love seeing a different perspective on this! In Nohr, we read these stories when we’re little so we just come to accept them, even if they don’t make sense.”

Takumi scoffed. “Yeah, probably because when you’re little, you’d believe anything. And why is this girl going to just marry a guy she doesn’t even know?”

“Gotta stick in some romance to please the crowd. Though not all of these stories have romances. Look at Little Red Riding Hood, which is supposedly based on a true story that took place in Mount Garou, though Keaton might find it offensive to his culture if we read it to him.  Anyway, let's keep going! I want to see how you respond to the ending.”

Takumi finished it lamely, feeling awful for the stepmother for facing punishment, but also thinking she was stupid too for showing up at her former stepdaughter's wedding, having been given iron slippers and tongs set on fire which she was forced to dance with. 

“They teach you  _ this  _ as a kid?”

“Yeah,” she said casually. 

“Well, okay then, that was a pretty messed up story. I wouldn’t want to tell my kids that.”

“It’s not my favorite of the bunch, but there’s a ton of them I just thought this one was a good choice to start with, since it has the beautiful princess, a good prince, the evil stepmother…”

“Not all stepmothers are like this, I should know,”’ he said, thinking of Mikoto, who wasn’t even a stepmother to him. She was his own mother and raised him with the love and care his natural born mother would have done had she not died so early on. Which brought him to the core issue of his nightmares. He didn't want to think of that right now through. He just wanted a distraction.

“Sorry…” Elise said. “Read a different one. How about Little Red? Though I wouldn’t repeat it to Keaton, just as a warning!” He turned over to the table of contents, found the story, and began reading. 

Takumi found the heroine of this one just as dumb as the last one, except she was clearly younger than Snow White, so he was just slightly more forgiving, but he had seen Keaton fight before in his Wolfskin form and the change was obvious to anyone. ”’Oh, grandmother, what a horribly big mouth you have!’” he said, and he heard Elise take in a deep breath. His eyes wavered over to her, thinking she was in suspense, but her eyes were closed, her breathing steady. She had fallen asleep.

Takumi felt her face soften at Elise’s sleeping form. Her face was serene and it brought a sense of satisfaction knowing he helped her find sleep, which was just as hard for him to find. “Goodnight, Elise,” he said, taking the book with him to the common area he shared with Sakura. 

He was reading Hansel and Gretel when Sakura had come in. Hours must have passed because she was utterly exhausted. “Takumi!” she said in complete surprise. “How did it go with Elise?”

“She’s in my room, asleep.”

“W-what?” she gasped, completely shocked at the notion. “But it’s near midnight! Her sister is probably worried sick for her. And her retainers! Where are they?” Takumi set the book aside. 

“I’ll have to explain what happened with Elise. She’s overworked. I don’t want to disturb her.”

“Oh no, please don’t wake her up, we need her! I’ll...I’ll come with you to help explain things if we need to.”

They began to make their descent from the treehouse. “So what happened?” he asked. “You seem pretty passionate about keeping Elise asleep,” he said.  _ Just as passionate as I did _ .

“Um, well, we have two very different cases with our two new recruits and Elise was able to solve the problems with the both of them, even though, um, it took quite a lot of testing. She’s...she’s a lot smarter than she looks and knows a lot more about sickness.”

“So you do,” he said. He wasn’t going to let Sakura undermine herself. He didn’t want his little sister to become another him. 

“Just with herbs and first aid. If we combine forces, I know we’d be a good team!” she said. He saw a sense of confidence that he had never seen before with her. “The first one, Nyx, had nothing wrong with her, but her demeanor and way of acting was the opposite of what she looked like. Elise was able to figure out that her body was truly enchanted and Shura was the opposite. He’s lucky Elise was able to diagnose him with something called scurvy and now we’re feeding him fruit to help him get ready to fight for us. Her notes said it was one of the more common diseases in Nohr.”

“Hmm,” he said. Diseases weren’t really much of a problem in Hoshido, which would explain the edge Elise had on Sakura in the matter. If that were the case, then she had seen things just as bad as Sakura did, if not worse and yet she kept on going, handling such huge responsibilities. “Impressive,” he said.  

“We really do need her. She’s invaluable to the army,” Sakura finished. 

They saw Camilla about to cross paths with them. She was wearing a purple robe. “Oh my Hoshidan friends! How are my little darlings doing?”

“We were about to look for you!” Takumi said.

“Good thing you’ve caught me. I hear the bathhouses are empty at this hour.”

“Elise is at our treehouse, sleeping,” he said. 

“Oh?” Camilla said. “That does certainly explain why it was so quiet back at home.”

“I didn’t want you to worry about her. She’s safe.” 

Camilla brought her hand towards Takumi and pinched his cheek. He glared at her, naturally. “Why thank you for caring so much for my little sister. I see you’re starting to fall a little bit for her! She is quite an irresistible girl!” Camilla said teasingly as she began to laugh heartily at her own joke and continued to walk towards the bathhouse still laughing.

“Takumi, you’re beet red,” Sakura said.

“N-no I’m not! It’s just a trick of the light. C-come on. Let’s go read some fairy tales. I’m on this story where there’s a brother and sister and the brother’s dumber than rocks. You’ll laugh.” Takumi placed an arm around his sister’s shoulder as they began to make their way back home, a sudden sense of eagerness spreading at the idea of him and Sakura discovering new stories to share.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stuck to the original Grimm where Snow White is not revived by true love's kiss, but with the anticlimactic true ending where clumsiness saves the day. I figured Nohr would be the type of place to keep Grimm's tales...well...just as grim. Since fairy tales are canon in the FE:F universe, I like to think the Wolfskin are the inspiration for Little Red Riding Hood (and of course, that fuels even more fanfic ideas). Thanks for reading!


	4. Radiance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which forces within the army clash and yet...

Things had gone from bad to worse to decent to downright awful in the recent days. They had a full army now, even bigger than anyone could have ever expected. 

When Leo and Xander joined the fray to assist them, he saw Elise’s face light up like the sun. Even though it was pitch black out and completely ominous, she became radiant and her spells were working in a way Takumi hadn’t expected. She never missed her mark and her horse expertly dodged whatever blows came her way. It was almost as if she was replacing the sun in that moment in time. 

But things quickly deteriorated when he and Leo found themselves front and center against Iago, who was aiming a fire orb at the two of them. 

Leo had gotten a clear shot of Iago and began to talk trash, proving his insufferability early on. “Hm, hiding behind that pillar, I see. You coward! You can’t hide from—” It all happened in slow motion as Iago caught Leo mid-monologue and aimed his magic at him, but Leo wasn’t going to budge.

“MOVE!” Takumi screamed, forcing Leo out of the way. One of the fireballs stiked at his sleeve as Takumi got one last shot at Iago, decimating his tome. It gave Leo the distraction he needed to finish off Iago as he begged his prince for forgiveness, but Takumi’s arm suffered as a result as the flames continued to burn through. 

This caused the party to make an emergency run back to the castle grounds immediately after battle in the astral plain to heal up Takumi’s arm. He was glad time stood still on the outside, otherwise he would have messed things up and made them worse. Again.

His arm was in a sling, as Sakura pressed leaves and different ointments along his arm to alleviate the burn marks. 

“How bad is it?” he asked her. 

“N-not as bad as it could be. You got really lucky but I would give it three days before you use a yumi.”

“WHAT? And hold off on fighting?” he felt rage boil, wishing it were Leo instead of him sitting on a hospital bed. Then again, he hated the thought of his sister applying salves and touching that idiot’s skin in any way.

“Azura and Corrin will wait for you. We can’t do this without you, Takumi. You did the right thing and you and Leo helped us reach our goal...”

“Except I’m here and he’s not,” he said, pouting. “His stupid arrogance caught me in this situation.”

The door opened without a knock and it was the devil himself. 

“Ah. So if it isn't Prince Leo of Nohr!”

“And you must be Prince Takumi of Hoshido. I'm pleased to make your acquaintance outside of battle.” His tone betrayed his words, his dark brown eyes narrowed into slits.

“Ha! Are you here to thank me for saving your hide?”

“No. I had the situation under control had you not—”

“So then why are you here?” Takumi asked, getting ready for a fight. He could take this guy on even with one working arm. All he had to do was wrap his hair around his neck and...

“Lady Sakura had a question for me and I am here to answer it for her,” they both met Sakura’s petrified gaze. 

“P-please, no d-d-don’t f-f-fight! You’ll o-o-only m-m-make things wo-worse!” Sakura said, her voice rising higher than either one of them and her stammer out of control.

“I’ll meet you outside for just a moment,” Leo said with a sweet kind of calculation. “Elise is just outside, looking for you two.” Sakura refused to budge. 

“Sakura, give us a moment.” He was going to give this boy a piece of his mind. Sakura obeyed and left.

“We might as well get this out of the way. You and I are not going to be friends,” Leo said the moment she left. They exchanged a few choice words and instead of Leo leaving, it was Takumi who left the small room, in an angry fit.

“Takumi!” both Elise and Sakura yelled at the same time.

“I t-told you not to use quick movements!” Sakura said.

“Listen to her, she’s the expert!” Elise said. Leo followed and left the room. “Leo, you jerk! Don’t aggravate my friend! He nearly died trying to help you!”

Leo snorted. “Please, he was completely safe and I had the shot. This could have been avoided had he not been…”

“STOP!” Elise cried out, wedging herself between Leo and Takumi.

“Elise! Is this your choice in friends lately?” Leo asked, shaking his head. Elise’s hand extended and hit his back. “Oof!” he wobbled. “Do whatever you’re supposed to be doing and let him be!”

He rolled his eyes at his sister and moved around her, his body facing Sakura. “Lady Sakura, please come with me. Are you headed to the emergency war council today?” 

Their voices trailed off. Elise turned to Takumi. “We should get you back inside.”

“Oh no, I’m not! How anyone can stand being in that tiny cramped room is beyond me!” Takumi said, still feeling irate over his encounter with Leo. 

“Hmm, on second thought, we should go outside. It’s a pretty day out anyway.” 

Takumi smirked. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but every day is pretty here,” he said as they walked in the opposite direction from where Leo and Sakura were headed.

“You’re right! It gets kinda boring. Do you think if we bribe Lilith with some bonbons we might get a rain shower? Or maybe have it rain cats and dogs and we can see the rainbows after?”

He laughed even harder. He noticed she was one of the few people who managed to make him laugh like this. What was it about her that made him forget his anger and was able to quickly replace it with something better? “Elise, we ran out of bonbons, remember?”

Her smile widened as they left the clinic grounds. “Are you sure? We did just get six new additions to our army, four of which I know for certain like candy…” A cool breeze passed along, blowing Takumi’s ponytail up high.

Takumi froze.

“Better yet, they might even have different kinds of candy for us to try!” Elise was making this too tempting.

“We can’t. Not everyone is like Camilla.”

“True. Peri would likely overreact but I’m sure if we ask nicely...”

“UGH! THIS SCUM DOESN’T STAND A CHANCE!” a familiar voice screamed from the area where the new treehouses were made. It was Oboro, who was currently holding her spear ready to strike if it weren’t for Hinata holding her back. She was getting ready to strike at one of Leo’s men, the one with the eyepatch.

“Oooh, speaking of chances, this is the perfect time to raid Leo’s room and get some candy from him. Or Xander’s. One of them is guaranteed to have something!” Elise said.

“That’s a terrible idea. Oboro’s my best friend and she’s gonna kill that guy if we don’t do anything!”

“She won’t! There’s nothing to worry about and now’s the best time! You heard Leo. There’s a war council meeting and there’s a zero percent chance my brothers will be inside!”

The other man next to the one in the eyepatch Oboro was screaming at made a circling motion with his hands and in the next second, the spear disappeared completely from Oboro’s hands. 

“Whoa! That’s so cool! How’d you do that?” Hinata cried out in astonishment. He forgot what he was doing for a single moment, which Oboro took the opportunity to let go of Hinata’s arms around her waist as she lunged at the man with the eyepatch, straddling him and landing a few punches. The two of them stopped from their momentary sense of peace and tried their best to keep Oboro further contained.

Elise grabbed Takumi’s good hand and they made their getaway upwards, making sure his immature retainers and Leo’s incompetent group wouldn’t take notice. 

Their treehouse was identical to the other ones and Takumi saw that everything was just packed and fitted to accommodate them. Xander and Leo’s rooms were across from each other’s and it was somewhat easy to tell which room belonged to which despite both of them being immaculate. Xander had a giant bed, probably made in mind to accommodate his height and had a four poster bed while Leo’s was smaller, having a bookcase to the side much like Takumi did. 

“Xander has done nothing to us, so I suggest we get them from Leo’s, since he doesn’t appreciate a good old life saving.” Elise repeated her actions from earlier, searching through the chest at the foot of his bed. Takumi wanted to help her, but he stopped, reminding himself he needed to let his wounds heal in time.

“Jackpot!” Elise said, grabbing the same bag of confectionaries Camilla once had. Takumi felt a sudden rush, knowing they were about to go back to what bonded them from the start. “Now we gotta go.” 

They walked out and Takumi saw his friends and the two men still outside. This time, Oboro looking away from the man with the eyepatch. “Elise, I need to handle this.” He felt hypocritical for what he was about to do. 

“Lord Takumi!” Oboro said, straightening herself under Hinata’s grip, making her voice sweet.

“Is there any reason why Hinata is holding you back?”

Hinata smiled over in Elise’s direction. 

“Hi!” Elise said waving at him. 

“Lady Elise!” The blonde man with the cleavage said with a bow. The other followed his lead. 

“Um, we were training!” Oboro said in a poor attempt to cover her behavior towards these men. She had a hatred of Nohr, but he knew better. It was only a matter of—

“Such pretty lies,” the man with the eyepatch said. “Just as pretty as their own—”

“Why you little—” Oboro tried to lunge like a rabid dog at the man, who Takumi was pretty sure was winking under his eyepatch. He already had a bloody lip.

“How long have they been like this?” he asked Hinata and the other man in an exasperated tone. 

“Since the moment these star-crossed enemies hath laid thine eyes upon each other!” the other man said. “You must be the Prince of the Arrows of Winds for I am Odin Dark and my companion here is Niles of Nohr.”

It was evident that this Niles had made a pass at Oboro, which she interpreted as means to fight.

“Hee-hee, Niles is a huge flirt! Though he’s a lot more successful than say, Laslow, isn’t he, Odin?” Elise said. She had her hands tied to her back, definitely keeping the bag of sweets behind her.

“Yes, but the Lady of Knife Sticks did not take kindly to it.”

Takumi wanted to shake this Odin man and make him talk like a regular person. _ And the term you’re looking for is spear _ , his mind screamed. “Oboro, stop this foolish behavior at once!”

Oboro paused, her oni glare boring into Niles’s one eye. He was completely unfazed at the famous glare that was known to reduce children to tears and gave them nightmares for weeks. In fact, he returned it with a smirk, riling her up even more.

“Oboro, you are ordered to be civil to this man and any other Nohrians. You might not like it, but we are all fighting for the same cause, whatever it is.” He wanted to cross his arms, so he did the next best thing, which was to place his good one just under his bad one.

“Yes, Lord Takumi,” Oboro said with genuine reluctance.

“Oh, and Niles or Odin? Do you happen to know where Laslow or Peri happen to be?”

“Oh you mean the pretty girl with the cotton candy hair?” Hinata said excitedly. Elise nodded.

“Mm-hm!”

“I know not where my companion lies, but the Lady of Blood and Thunder is at the Hall of Dinings of truths, showcasing her peerless artistry in preparing nourishments for us all!” Odin said

“Thanks Odin, you’re amazing! Be good, alright!” Takumi felt a sudden jab at his stomach at Elise calling him amazing. He had felt this feeling so many times and it consumed him whenever he lost control. Elise had never called Takumi himself amazing or anything like that before. It made him feel insignificant that this man who didn’t even know what a spear was, was getting compliments from someone like Elise. 

Takumi gave his retainers one last look before setting off. “What’s the plan now, Elise?”

“Well, I wanted to keep it a secret, but I know one of Xander’s retainers, Peri, is really good at making food and maybe if we can give her some of these bonbons as a reference, she can make us batches and batches of them and we can give them back to Camilla.” She was quiet. “And Leo, I guess, even though he was being a jerk.”

“How do you know this’ll work?” he asked. 

“Easy. Have you ever tried Peri’s cooking? She one of the best there is. I’ll handle it when we get there. You just sit and wait, okay?” 

It wasn’t that difficult of a task, as Peri stood behind a counter. She was kind of creepy looking, the way she was eyeing the knives of the kitchen while Elise did her talk. 

“Yay! Thank you  _ so  _ much, Peri! You’re wonderful!” she said, balling her hands and lacing her fingers together. That stabbing motion hit Takumi’s stomach like a brick yet again, making him feel that same feeling of bitterness. At least it wasn’t at another man who happened to have a nice cleavage this time. Elise sat down next to Takumi in one of the benches, yet she wasn’t empty handed. She carried two cups of tea in her hands. 

“Thanks,” he said, accepting the tea. He sniffed the tea, it smelled like berries. “Mmm! This is pretty good!”

“Like I said, Peri’s really good in the kitchen, but you know who else can make good tea?”

“Mozu?” he said. 

“Nope. Me! I’ve hosted tea parties back at home in Nohr. It’s a lot of fun! I should have you be the guest of honor for my next one. Tell me, do you like scones or biscuits or tomato sandwiches? Ooh! Maybe cake or cinnamon rolls! Ahh! How about I have you try all of them!”

“Sure…” he said, feeling somewhat intimidated by her excitement. He took a sip of his tea. “How long is Peri supposed to be making the bonbons?”

“She said about three hours since they need to freeze so by nightfall, is that okay?”

“Do you think Leo will notice?” he was ready to fight him anyway if he came after Elise.

“No. Leo can’t even notice if he wore his own cape backwards. I wouldn’t expect him to care.” Elise nudged him, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Actually, when he came to the clinic, I saw it was backwards again!”

They laughed together as if they were children. It was definitely a quality Takumi enjoyed from Elise. He found her sense of humor and optimism borderline intoxicating. As a pessimist, he wanted to steal it away from her and enjoy it for himself, but it seemed like Elise wanted to share it with him. Or maybe not, since she was this way with everyone. 

“Since I can’t train or manage shops, what can we do?”

“Well, I was thinking maybe we could read up on history, since you’ve already read all of my fairy tales. Nohr’s got quite a rich history. Maybe you’ll like it!”

“That sounds good, actually,” he said, finishing his tea.

 

The three hours passed quickly while Takumi hung out in Elise and Camilla’s treehouse. Camilla had come back from the war council, watching the two read histories about Siegbert the Great, a legendary king who Elise said Xander emulated and other such ancient kings. It was fascinating how Nohrian historical texts spoke about Hoshido. 

Generally, history was written by the winners, but the authors of these books didn’t have the hatred of Hoshido Takumi thought they would have. Instead, there was a sense of respect and acknowledgement that Hoshido was just as powerful and fearless as Nohr was. And apparently marrying between the two kingdoms wasn’t an uncommon feat in the past. At least over a century ago since Nohrian heirs liked to marry Nohrian commoners and Nohrian nobles, which was a more common practice in recent times.

“Leo’s got more books, but this one is the one I like, because it shows Hoshido is a pretty nice place. A lot of these books have the whole “Hoshido is terrible, Nohr rules thing” but Leo’s got his theories why they were written like this.”

He almost wanted to go back to Leo’s room and steal a few books, but he had the feeling he was in there. “Hey, Elise, I think Peri might be done around now. It’s just about nightfall.” It also meant it was nearly dinner time, too.

Elise stood up. “Yay! What are waiting for! Let’s go!”

On the way to the mess hall, Takumi’s mind began to wander, the subject of Hoshidan and Nohr royalty marrying. It was somewhat calming knowing that most of these marriages happened between the younger children of both kingdoms, but conflicting thoughts arose reminding him that while relations became more hostile over time, this likely became more taboo. 

_ Marriage? What am I thinking? _

Takumi scoffed at his own thoughts while Elise quietly hummed a tune as they walked together.

“Oooh, just in time!” Peri’s childlike voice rang from the other side of the hall when they arrived. Some other members of the army began to arrive and take their place. It felt almost like a small village the way it was bustling. 

Elise grinned. “Take some, since you deserve it for all of your hard work!” Elise said, leaving a significant portion over to Peri, who cast her an even wider grin. It somehow didn’t unsettle Takumi.

“For me? Thank you, Princess Elise! It wasn’t very hard at all, but thank you again!”

Despite Elise giving Peri a large amount of the confections, they still had over triple the amount they once had. 

“Camilla!” Elise yelled, watching her older sister walk in with Hinoka. “I got these made for you! Actually, we did!”

Camilla’s mouth opened in pure shock as Elise took a bonbon.

“Elise, you really shouldn’t have!” She took a small bite, letting out a small moan. 

“‘We’?” Hinoka said. “My brother was involved with this too?”

“Sweetheart, try this!” Camilla said to Hinoka, bringing the candy into her mouth. 

“Oh! That’s amazing!” Hinoka’s eyes never left Takumi’s as she continued giving him a look of complete surprise.

“Takumi, I just got an idea! Let’s go and give at least one of these to everyone in the army! Come on!” Takumi continued to exchange his glance with Hinoka, who was just as bewildered at this turn of events. He stood awkwardly behind her as she handed out to each and every person, most of them (except for Saizo, who offered his brother an extra) accepting Elise’s generosity.

Takumi had to admit it was pretty amazing to see Elise be so selfless towards others, but what surprised him was that she included him in the thanking part, which astounded him as he did virtually nothing but go with Elise’s ideas, which were pretty good, if he had to be honest. He had never experienced so many kind words given to him in the expanse of an hour and the feeling was amazing, despite his inner mind trying desperately to shut it down.

What amazed him most was that sense he got from her in battle where she was as radiant as the sun. People flocked to her and loved her. She was enigmatic and open and believed in everyone. How she wanted to believe in him was a shock. But he  _ wanted  _ her to believe in him. For her to see him as someone who wasn’t a screw-up and an idiot who would throw him into the flames to save an arrogant prince for the sake to see her continue smiling like this. 

Maybe through this, it would give him a legitimate reason to keep on fighting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how I was able to incorporate Niles into a story rated for general audiences. Oh wait that's right, I sold my soul and I have him as a central figure in a future story that's nearly the exact opposite of this one that’s currently sitting in at 40K words and counting. *facedesk* Thanks for reading!


	5. Weddings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A friend's wedding makes Takumi and Elise have discussions about the topic themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to those who catch the Fire Emblem Awakening reference.

Reading about intermarriages had been somewhat of a foreshadowing for the army. It wasn’t before long when the first marriage had occurred between Ryoma’s retainer Saizo and one of Camilla’s, Beruka. Takumi didn’t even know they had even exchanged more than a single word, but weeks after they had first jumped into Valla they surprised everyone by having a secret wedding. 

The army only found out because Beruka had gone to the clinic with stomach pains when Elise was able to properly diagnose her pregnancy. Takumi remembered how Elise told him the story. It was her, Camilla, and Selena together in the room and according to Elise, Beruka was as silent as always, but also had panic written on her face.

“But how in the world are  _ you  _ pregnant?” Selena had asked.

“Well see,” Elise said. “When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much, hee hee hee,” Elise could never contain her laughter even when telling the story.

“Ugh, this conversation is giving me some serious deja vu over here, but really, how in the world is Beruka of all people expecting?”

“Hmm, my little darling is now going to be a mother. Now, Auntie Camilla wants to know: just who is the lucky man?”

“That’s when Beruka took in a deep breath and said with all of her seriousness...” Elise would say. “‘Saizo, Lady Camilla’, and then the room exploded. Selena had thrown a tissue box across the room and stormed out and Camilla started crying and Beruka was expressionless as always but clearly embarrassed. It was amazing! It was like being trapped in a burning room and so many things were happening at once!” Elise said.

Within the hour, everyone knew and the two of them were sent into one of the Deeprealms to go through a combined honeymoon, vacation, and labor, all at once, much to their chagrin. 

The effect it had on the army had caused it to change overnight, as it seemed that many of its members were experiencing attractions to one another from the opposite sides and getting hitched, as if they were afraid their battle would be their last. 

Takumi was dressed in his finer clothes this evening as he was made to attend yet another wedding, sitting with his family along with Elise and the bride and groom. But this wasn’t a typical one, as it was between one of Hinoka’s retainers, Azama, and Effie, Elise’s retainer and best friend. How in the world someone like Azama was able to find love was beyond Takumi, but Elise was bouncing off the rails, taking herself up as Maid of Honor and managed to procure not only a setting for the wedding, but a priest since Azama couldn’t officiate his own wedding. Elise stringed along a line of lanterns and managed to purchase a large parasol from a morally ambiguous saleswoman to serve as the backdrop of the ceremony, which was laden with two large rows of white roses for the aisle and even more flowers surrounding the parasol.

For what it was, the wedding was a complete success and definitely one of the more extravagant ones made on such short notice, but it seemed as though Elise’s main focus had been the buffet. 

“That wedding was a workout, Lady Elise. How you could have planned it and not have worked up a sweat is beyond me,” Effie told her while the reception was going on. “All I had to do was walk and say ‘I do’ and that was tiring itself.” Effie grabbed a drumstick and began to devour the whole thing in seconds.

“Don’t you worry, Effie! I have my ways.” Takumi was aware of some of her ways having been recruiting Mozu and Peri to make a giant buffet, which Effie was taking in at the fullest. Elise looked different tonight, wearing a white dress with pink accents to match Effie and she had her hair styled in a high ponytail. It was an unusual look for her, but she had pulled it off. 

“Lady Elise, may I have this dance with my wife?” Azama said, cutting in between the best friends. Takumi thought scent of the medicines he administered while on duty had finally gotten to him, because he had never seen that look on him in his life. 

“One dance and it’s back to the buffet for me, Azama,” she said. He stole Effie away and Elise continued to sit in her spot, with a dazed look on her face. 

“Aren’t they cute, Takumi?” she said, watching them dance. 

He tried not to snort, knowing the kind of person Azama was, but if Effie was able to see past that scathing mouth of his, then maybe everyone had a shot at love. 

“A lot of people here have been getting together, it’s borderline absurd the way it’s happening,” he said. 

“It’s so romantic! Like Odin would say, everyone here is totally star crossed! Who wouldn’t love a love story full of star crossed lovers and danger! It’s one for the history books.”

Takumi doubted he would be part of the history books other than just a spot on the Hoshidan family tree. He huffed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Nearly all of these marriages were happening between the retainers, but it was nearly a main concern if his brother or sisters were going to marry, now that is seemed to be marriage season.

“Takumi, open wide!” she fed him an Azama styled bobon, which was basically a white chocolate outer core with coconut filling. He didn’t mind Elise feeding him since it didn’t come off like she was coddling him. She genuinely wanted him to try one of the candies. 

“This is really good!”

“Thank you!” Takumi heard Peri say from her place on the makeshift dancefloor. She was dancing hand-in-hand with Hinata, who Takumi warned about crossing the likes of Peri, who was obviously unhinged and clearly a serial killer. Yet he continued to pursue her. 

“Oh! Mister Hinata! Have an Effie!” Elise said as Hinata let go of Peri. 

“Gee thanks!” he took the bonbon, which was an everything flavor and ate it all in one bite, which was known as the Elise back when she introduced him to the styles of eating. “Peri-Weri, you make the best food!” he said to Peri. 

Peri cackled, her child-like voice unsettling Takumi yet again as Hinata grabbed her and pecked her on the lips. 

“Gross, man. Get a room.”

“I think I know who’s next…” Elise said in a singalong. She whispered to Takumi, “I can rig the bouquet toss if you want.”

“Haha, we’re just taking it slow, Elise!” Hinata said, still disregarding titles. Takumi scoffed, knowing that was probably a lie considering how marriage season was taking place and how quick people were jumping into this. 

“Ooh! Maybe Lord Xander will be next!” Peri said, squealing.

“Maybe it’ll be Takumi, eh?” Hinata said, nudging Peri.

“No!” Takumi said, his face reddening. He put his palm over his forehead to cover the upcoming embarrassment he was about to face.

“Takumi’s wedding! Now that’ll be something!” Hinata said. 

Elise gasped. “Oh, maybe for Takumi’s wedding we’ll have horses and even more flowers and all of our archers will shoot arrows at the sky that will form the shape of a heart when they land!” Elise said. 

Takumi groaned even louder as the trio squealed about his nuptials. “Please let’s change the topic of conversation or else I’m leaving,” he said. He didn’t want to stay separate for too long with Elise but at this rate, he would be forced to in order to preserve his own honor.

“You know what, sweetie-pie? I found the cutest dress at the market! It was all white and red and sooo pretty! I should show it to you tomorrow.”

“I’d love that schmoopy-woopykins!” Hinata said.

“Okay that’s it! I’m leaving,” Takumi said, rising up from his chair and stormed off, leaving the three of them together. Who knew Hinata would be one half of one of those sickeningly sweet couples?

He found an incline and watched the reception from afar, or least from a distance where he could see everyone but not everyone might see him. He wasn’t good with social events anyway and neither was Sakura, but he could see her dancing with Xander among the many pairings, but they were mostly in deep conversation. He felt jealous knowing his sister was faring better than him.

Elise had followed him and sat down on the grass besides him. Takumi’s arm rose in protest in fear that she would ruin her dress, but she sat down anyway. “Sorry about that, Takumi. I started teasing you and I went too far.”

He said nothing.

“I sometimes forget you’re kind of like Leo and Xander and don’t do well at these kind of things.” Takumi winced at the mention of Leo, who had somehow gotten his respect in the past couple of weeks. He glanced over to where Leo was standing, which was in between his two crazy retainers at the buffet table.

“Hmph,” he said, crossing his arms.

“I’m really sorry. I sorta meant it as half-joking.”

“Half? So what, the other half was serious?”

“Well yeah, I’d like arrows to be there somehow, since you’re really good with them and everything. You’re like, the best archer I’ve ever seen!”

Takumi shook his head and fell back against the soft grass. “You’re right about that, I don’t do well at these events and it’s really weird seeing my best friend act all schmaltzy.” He watched the stars shine bright and beautiful.

Elise mirrored his actions. Takumi liked this sense of closeness with her. He impulsively reached out and found her hand.

“I find weddings to have too much pressure.”

Elise gasped and rose up, her hand not leaving Takumi’s for a second. “You don’t think I did that to Effie, did I? I just got so carried away from her engagement and one thing led to another!”

“Of course you did.”

Elise’s face fell. It wasn't the answer she wanted to hear but Takumi had to tell her the truth.

“What’s done is done and she looks happy with the results so I wouldn’t dwell on it.”

“I know I can be...energetic, is what Xander calls me...but…”

“You mean well,” he said. He really couldn’t think of a single time when Elise did something with any kind of malicious or ill intent. Sure, she was mischievous at times, but that wasn’t a big deal. He had an air of mischief, too.

Elise lay back down on the grass, this time her body even closer to his. She was within snuggling distance and Takumi felt his face flush at the thought of snuggling with her. 

“Um, the stars are nice tonight,” he said, trying to distract those thoughts.

“They’re always nice. I really can’t see why Lilith can’t accept the bonbons as an offer to make it rain, though,” she said. “I know it’s weird, but I’ve always felt like the stars shine brightest back at home in Nohr, even though our castle is located deep in a hole. I want to take you there and show you what I mean.”

“I think I would like that,” he said without thinking. “And maybe I could show you how big the moon gets in Hoshido, but everyone knows the real deal for us are our sunrises. It would involve staying up late or waking up early, but it’s well worth it.”

He missed the Hoshidan sunrises. Growing up, he would wake up early and practice his archery and get a workout in, all while witnessing the beauty of a sunrise. That’s when things always felt the most promising and when they were at their most quiet.

“I think I changed my mind, Takumi,” Elise said, once again rising up, her violet eyes full of spark. “I think I know just the wedding for you. You’d like it to be small and intimate, with only friends and family and you’d say your vows just as the sun rose. I’d still keep the arrows but they’d be shot at the sun and would catch fire and it would be so pretty. It sounds like the wedding you’d deserve.”

His mind couldn’t help but wander at the idea. He couldn’t help but see Elise walking towards him, her hair loose, the sun catching her and adding towards that radiancy he knew she had. The idea was preposterous but it felt right.

“I think that’s…” A sudden noise interrupted him and Elise jolted up.

“Oh my gosh! Is it time already to throw the bouquet?” she asked. “Oh! I need to go and tell Effie she’s gotta throw it to Peri. See you soon!” Elise scampered off, leaving him alone with his thoughts. 

Had his mind really led there? Could he have been falling for Elise? The thought terrified him more than any invisible enemy did. He felt like a fool, knowing Elise was a princess from an enemy kingdom. Just because people from both kingdoms were getting married didn’t mean he had the same privileges. And getting her brothers to even agree with that notion was going to prove impossible, considering how precious she was. He didn’t stand a chance.

Takumi got up and walked back to the reception, standing along with the other unmarried men. He found himself standing close to Hinata, Leo, and Leo’s entourage.

Effie stood in front of the parasol where she took her vows with Azama, facing backwards as a score of single girls waited for her to throw the flowers. 

“You don’t think Peri’s gonna catch that thing, do ya?” Hinata asked. 

“Heck if I know,” Takumi said, hitting his back with his hand. “It’s anyone’s game.”

“Maybe Elise’ll catch it for all you know. Then you gotta start planning your wedding,” Hinata said.

“What?”

“Excuse me?” 

Both Leo and Takumi exclaimed out loud. They were both ready to kill.

“Uhh, I’ll shut up now,” Hinata said.

“Hey Odin, wanna take bets?” Eyepatch man, who Takumi got to learn was named Niles, said. 

“Odin has already foreseen this event. The ninja of artistry will take the prize,” Odin said, pointing over to Kagero.

“Or maybe it’ll be that one,” Niles said, pointing at Oboro. She caught his gaze and glared at him. Niles pursed his lips in gave a general kiss in her direction. Her glare worsened.

Takumi met her gaze and shook his head in the most commanding manner. She stopped and looked back at where Effie was standing.

“I wouldn’t put it past the Hoshidan princesses,” Leo said. “They’re not to be estimated.”

“Losers have to…” Niles began.

“Don’t make it gross, Niles,” Leo said. 

“Well, the winner chooses, how about it?” Niles said.

“But I’m betting  _ against _ Peri!” Hinata said. 

“One for the evil murder doll, got it,” Niles said.

“As long as it isn’t Oboro,” Takumi said, afraid of Niles’ devious mind. 

“Right you are,” Leo said. “For the sake of our dignities.”

Effie made the motion and threw the bouquet of white roses. The flowers flew high up in the air, as if they were about to touch the stars, but everyone had underestimated Effie’s strength as gravity fought with the flowers, causing the wrapping to unravel mid-air. The flowers had scattered in the air and fallen surrounding the girls. Each of them bent down, taking their share as Effie turned around, her face red. 

“Um, was that too strong?” 

“Oooh yes,” Niles said, placing an arm around Odin and Leo. “Looks like we all lost.”

“But we all won,” Odin said in an astoundingly normal way.

“Does this mean I gotta get married right away? All of us?” Hinata asked. 

“Can’t fight fate,” Niles said. “Looks like we’ll all be married men by the time this is over. Sounds fun.”

Takumi saw Elise place one of her roses in the ribbon that held her ponytail. Their eyes met, Elise clearly aware her attempt to rig the toss resulted a failure against Effie’s biceps, which Effie flexed.

They were all completely trapped under fate’s design. If there was a sign that marriage fever was going to slow down, then this wasn’t it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I *might* be going on a small hiatus soon, I'm not sure. I might have this clocking in at about 8-10 chapters depending on how writing goes. My big debate is if I should write cute post scripts including Kiragi because who wouldn't want to write excitable/moody/excitable parent/child dynamics? But at the same time I have other works I want to polish and focus on and I'm not quite done with this pairing. Hmm...


	6. Checkmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Takumi is given advice from an unlikely source about how to beat Leo at chess.

Leo smirked, his face lighting up with that telltale grin that Takumi knew was his smugness. “Checkmate,” he said for the third and final time in the game. Takumi’s queen had already been taken and he only had a bishop and his knights left. His king was wide open and there was no way he could save him. 

“Lord Leo’s darkness reigns supreme against the white ivory pieces belonging to the fallen Prince of Arrows yet again,” Odin said. Odin had a habit of narrating their chess games as if it were some kind of sporting tournament. It was supposed to be Leo and Takumi alone by themselves but Odin had wanted to spectate the battle and Niles...well Niles didn’t have a reason other than to tag along with Odin. 

When Oboro had heard of this, she dragged Hinata to Leo’s treehouse to make sure that Takumi would get an equal amount of support. Hinata had come back earlier in the week from his trip to the deeprealms, where he told the other retainers endless stories centering around his infant son Hisame. Interestingly enough, the other three retainers were engrossed by his stories, despite their general personalities. 

Takumi had caught Oboro playing with Beruka’s son last week, giving him some gummy candy, and Odin got along well enough with Hinata to know that he was interested, but once again Niles eluded him.

“It’s okay, Takumi, this game is new to us!” Hinata said. “Oh, you know what else is new? The other day, Hisame grabbed one of the books on samurai and he turned the pages. All on his own!”

“Surely he can’t read,” Niles said.

“No, not yet, but he was looking at the pictures and turning them like an older child would. It was amazing!”

“I myself had an aptitude for books as a child, clearly my chosen-ness had indicated I was to be the center of many books,” Odin said. 

“The only center you’ll be a part of is my target board, Odin,” Niles said.

Oboro snorted at his words, yet caught herself. “It is a shame to see Lord Takumi has lost the game. Would you care for another, Lords Takumi and Leo?” she said. 

“I would prefer to spend the next hour in solitude before my shift begins yet again at the Dusk Armory,” Leo said. 

“And I have my chosen-y duties at the Halls of Dinings of truth!” Odin said.

Oboro laughed, “And that reminds me! I’ve got yet another shift at the accessory shop. I’m actually going to be late! Nyx is gonna give me a scolding if I don’t show up on time again!” She was the first to leave the treehouse.

“I’m...already late, actually,” Odin said in his normal voice.

“Odin, really?” Leo scolded. “Everyone here has to carry their weight. You know this.”

“But the game was so exciting!” Leo placed a hand on his hip, shaking his head. Odin bowed his head in resignation and promptly left.

Takumi, Hinata, and Niles all left before Leo got angry enough to kick them out and Takumi wasn't in the mood for a fight, especially when he could easily understand the man’s needs to be alone.

“It’s  _ such  _ a shame to see Milord win yet again,” Niles said as they walked down the spiral ramp. 

“Huh? Aren’t you supposed to be cheering for Leo?” Hinata said. 

“Watching Leo win again and again loses its lustre after a long while.”

“And it probably inflates his ego,” Takumi said. Niles flashed him a grin. 

“ _ Exactly _ . Now I wouldn’t want to say this in front of Odin or Lord Leo, but there  _ has  _ been one person who has beaten Leo at his own game. Mind you, if I were to tell you, it may not give you the results you seek.”

“Hmm-hmm,” Takumi said, motioning for Niles to go on. 

Niles stopped walking. “I don’t give information out like that for free. I require a price.”

“Okay we’re done, I’m not gonna lose my dignity over here because you require a price,” Takumi said. 

“Don’t you want to hear my terms? Maybe they won’t sound so bad after I say it.”

“No,” Takumi said simply. 

“Takumi, man, hear him out!” Hinata said. “That part’s for free! And don’t you wanna see Leo lose?”

“Yeah, but you heard the man! He said it might not work. I’m not selling my soul to possibly win a stupid game of chess.” 

“Please,” Niles said. “It involves very little soul selling. All I require is for your retainer to help me loosen the rubber band holding my eyepatch. It has been...suffocating my forehead as of late, perhaps it may loosen it up. Is that too much to ask?”

“I don’t know...” Takumi said. 

“Deal!” Hinata said, sheathing his katana. 

“Are you serious?” Takumi cried out as Niles took off his eyepatch, revealing a closed eye with faded scars on the eyelid. Hinata raised his sword but instead of loosening the rubber band, it had been completely cut.

“Whoops,” Niles said, sounding too casual for Takumi’s liking. 

“Uhhh.” Hinata gave Niles an unsteady smile, placing his katana back in its scabbard and rubbed the back of his head with the other. 

“Now look what you’ve done! You’ve literally cut a deeper hole in this mess!” Takumi said. 

“Sorry!”

“Oh, it’s no big deal. You tried. I guess it’s off to the accessory shop for a replacement,” Niles said, covering his eye, barely containing a grin. Takumi became fully aware that this was exactly what Niles had wanted. “Might as well tell you, I suppose. Years ago, Leo lost a game, yeah, and I was there to see it. It was against Elise of all people. She might be able to help you out.” He strolled along, leaving the two of them behind as he made a beeline towards the accessory shop.

“We just fed Oboro to the sharks,” Takumi told Hinata. “Well,  _ you  _ did, anyway.”

“Or maybe, we aided him in finding true love!” Hinata said, offering a foolish counter suggestion. He was still riding off his honeymoon with Peri, making him a lot less focused than usual. 

“Okay, that’s just stupid.”

“He’s been looking at her with those eyes...uh, eye, since they met.”

Takumi shook his head. “I was going to give you an hour of training right now as punishment, but instead you’ll give me three.” Hinata opened his mouth. “And no complaining. I’ll tell your wife you’ll be late to dinner today,” he finished, the word wife sounding weird on his tongue. Peri had made good on her word the day after Effie and Azama’s wedding and had taken Hinata over to a market over in one of the realms to look at a dress, but they winded up getting married somewhere along the way. Hinata later reasoned to Takumi that Peri looked like a bride in that dress and had no choice but to marry her on the spot because he found her so beautiful.

For all he knew, Oboro could have been next and if it was Niles she was marrying, then both of his retainers had found people who were too wild, proving they had poor tastes romantically speaking.

Elise was home when Takumi knocked on her door. “Takumi!” she exclaimed as he opened the door, throwing herself at him and wrapping her arms around his waist. It had taken him by surprise to see her this excited. 

“You’re quite happy to see me,” he said, trying to cover up the smile that kept threatening to show on his face. 

“Yeah! My super duper ultra awesome amazing friend has come to visit me! Why wouldn’t I be happy?” she squeezed harder at his waist. His heart soared at her compliments, but the word “friend” was a blight to him. 

He was fully aware that he had developed something of a crush on her and he couldn’t deny it any longer. He couldn’t remember how it was first formed. If it was during their daring escape to the prison or maybe when she had fallen asleep that one time in his bed while he read her fairy tales or maybe it was watching her generosity with the army. Elise was the most beautiful and precious thing in the world to him. Except he couldn’t just tell her that without unraveling a whole slew of issues within both of their families, not to mention the complications that would surround their kingdoms. 

Pushing back those thoughts, he laughed, enjoying the precious moments of her embrace. He placed an arm on Elise’s back, awkwardly hugging her back, but when he looked up and saw Camilla’s purple hair peeking from one of the two bedrooms, he pulled apart from her.

“You wanna play something?” Elise asked.

“Yes, actually! You read my mind.” Elise grabbed his hand and led him to the chaise. “So, do you have something in mind or do you want me to pick something out for us to play?

“Chess.” 

“Oh, okay! Wait right here!” she said, scampering off to her room.

Camilla had peeked again from her room and walked over to where Takumi was sitting. “Hello there, darling.” She patted the crown of his head.

“Hi Camilla,” he said.

“There’s something different about you, isn’t there? Something that wasn’t there before?”

“Huh?”

Camilla sat next to him, bringing his head to her arm. She was wearing her armor and it felt cold against his face. “You’ve fallen for my little sister, haven’t you?”

Takumi forced himself away. “No! Are you joking? Of course not! We’re just friends!”

“Oh? But I know better. You may not know it yet, but I can tell these things. A big sister’s instinct, you could call it. Elise will be back here shortly but if you ever need anything from me, I will be more than happy to help you.” Camilla planted a kiss on Takumi’s forehead right when Elise came out of her room with the chessboard in hand and took her leave. 

If she saw Camilla kiss his forehead, then she made no indication as she set up the chessboard.

Takumi spoke up, “I have to admit something to you. I didn’t come here just to play. I’ve been playing against Leo and I’ve lost every time.”

“So you wanna practice with me?”

“Er...kind of. I was given some information, supposedly valuable information that you’re the only person to have beaten Leo. Yet, I also remember you saying you’ve lost against him every time. I wasn’t sure...” Takumi still wanted to smack Hinata upside the head for selling out Oboro like that. 

“It’s true,” Elise said while continuing. “I beat Leo years ago, when I was eleven or twelve, I can’t remember. Hmm,” Elise paused for a moment, “Did Niles tell you this?”

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t mention that I had no idea what I was doing that day! I was brand new to the game!”

“What?” Takumi said, his voice carrying throughout the treehouse. It caused Elise to accidentally knock over a bishop piece. She bent down and picked it right back up. 

“Uh-huh! I wasn’t playing it the way normal people do and it took Leo by surprise. Leo’s the kind of person whose whole goal is to figure out what the strategy is behind the game so he can strike back at you. He’s got it all stored in his brainy mind of his, but if you play in a certain way and give no indication of your movements, you might stump him.”

“So why didn’t you win another game?”

“Silly mistakes, I guess. I sometimes don’t think when I play and I move my king or queen or the two of them in spots where he can take them. But beating Leo was super awesome! Xander and Camilla threw a tea party for me the next day!”

Anyone would throw a tea party for someone who just bested Leo in anything. Takumi had to assume there were national holidays in Nohr made specifically for that.

“If that’s the only way to beat Leo, then we’ll have to practice until I figure something out.”

“That sounds fine by me. I can make the first move, then!” Elise moved a pawn forward while Takumi prepared to expand his mind and focus on new strategies, possibly incorporating the ones from Shogi when the opportunity knocked.

 

Hours passed and Takumi was able to get nowhere, it felt like. “Ugh!” he said as he beat Elise for the fourth game in a row. 

“What’s wrong?” Elise asked. 

“I keep over thinking! If I think even just for a little, Leo will have figured everything out!”

“So? You’re actually really good at this game! Leo’s just been playing this since he was in diapers. I think he knew chess before he could even learn how to read, even. You’ve only known how to play this game for what, a couple of months?”

“But Leo needs to learn his lesson. He can’t just win at everything!” Takumi repressed the need to stomp his foot. 

Elise gasped, her eyes wide. “Ohhh, I see what’s going on here. You’re doing that thing you do in battle and in training and in, well, everything.”

“What thing?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Well,” she drawled out. “You’re the most competitive person I know. If someone does something that you think you can do better, even if you can’t sometimes, then you’ll still try it. It’s just that you let it eat at you like right now. You want everything to be perfect, but truth is, we’ll never know. Not unless you were to go up against Leo.”

Takumi was completely taken aback by her candor. 

“You just have to learn how to let it go and enjoy the game. I remember when I played against him and won, I was just doing it for fun. Because I got to spend time with my big brother and we were creating new memories, ‘cause you know, this won’t last forever.”

“This war has to end eventually,” he said, realization dawning in on him. 

“Yeah, and then we’ll all go our separate ways. So I’m taking my time and enjoying the time I get to spend with Sakura, with Effie and Azama and Arthur and Setsuna and you and everyone and it’s been the best ever!”

“I agree,” Takumi said, the feeling genuine. Maybe the reason everyone was getting married wasn't just because any day could be their last. They were all having small families and making the most of everything because they wanted to enrich their lives and clear a better path for their future.

Takumi had to take into consideration Hinata, for instance. He was much brighter and much more outgoing since he met Peri and flourished when Hisame was born. Peri in turn, had become less unhinged and was a surprisingly good and attentive mother from what he had seen. He was still a little wary of her, but things did look like they changed for the better for both of them.

But then what would happen with him? He would go back home and be surrounded by everything that once brought him comfort, but what about the new things that brought him comfort like his new friends and Elise? What would he do the day they had to part ways? Would they keep their communication by letters at a distance and wait until Xander betrothed Elise to another man? Then the correspondence would cease and these moments would be nothing but an afterthought. Maybe she was better off this way, finding a duke or some Nohrian with a better mental output that could match her endless optimism. 

“It’s getting late and we missed dinner,” he said. “Not that I was hungry.”

“Me neither,” she said. “Maybe I’ll just go to bed then. We do have shifts at the stores tomorrow!”

“You’re right. Good night, Elise.” He wanted to hold her once again, maybe sneak in a kiss on the crown of her head. But instead she waved and walked straight into her room, his heart began to ache again. 

Takumi left the treehouse and heard a voice while walking past the stables where Camilla’s wyvern and Elise’s horse were lodged. It was Camilla.

“I heard little pieces of your conversation,” she said. 

“What, were you eavesdropping?” he said. 

“Eavesdropping is such a harsh word, Prince Takumi. And I do want to help you. You love my little sister and you may not know it, but I’m certain she loves you too.”

“Really?” he said, trying not to sound hopefully. “I thought Elise loved everyone.”

“She has such a sweet spot for you I don’t see with anyone else. And I wouldn’t want this war to end without her seeking happiness. In fact, I would do anything to ensure she and my brothers find what they deserve.”

“Do you really think Elise deserves someone like me? She’s too good.”

Camilla tilted her head and pouted. “Perhaps, but I believe you love her for the right reasons. I’ve seen you around for her months and months, hovering besides her like a hummingbird.”

“You did not just compare me to a tiny bird.”

“I just did,” Camilla said in a matter-of-fact tone, either pretending not to notice Takumi’s sarcasm or ignoring it altogether. “Whatever it may be, I just think you’re both so cute!”

“And what if I were to be with Elise. Wouldn’t there be protesting and hatred?”

“I think love is stronger than any kind of hate and I’ve been seeing it win out here in our army with our combined forces. I just need to give you some food for thought. That, and Elise is a very beautiful, intelligent girl and once she is debuted to Nohrian society after the war, she will get a flock of proposals and will have a man of her choosing. I wouldn’t want you to miss your chance.” Camilla’s visible eye sparkled with a sense of seriousness for once. “Goodnight, Prince Takumi.” She walked back, leaving Takumi with even more thoughts that weren’t chess related, but were definitely waiting for his next move.

 

It was two days later when Takumi came to visit Leo with his retainers and Elise, the latter insisting she was going to “sweeten the stakes”, whatever that meant.

Niles and Odin were already lounging in the treehouse, with Odin reading a book and Niles lying upside down on a chaise, seemingly relaxing with his eye closed.

Odin was the first to see them arrive and excitedly got up from where he was sitting. It startled Niles so much that he lost his footing and fell from his spot, his head colliding with the floor. 

Oboro and Odin giggled as the heard Leo grumbling from his room. 

“Ugh, what is it now you...two?”

“Heya Leo!” Elise said, waving at her brother. She had her chessboard in hand.

“Oh, you want to play some chess again?”

“Not me, but Takumi. We've been training together.”

“A challenger approaches! Yet again the fallen Prince of Arrows rises from the depths of his defeat and his wary hand grabs the edge of the cliffside as he attempts to…”

“Shut up, Odin,” Niles said, crossing his arms. He was wearing a brand new eyepatch that honestly wasn't that different from his old one. Or maybe it was the same one, yet he carried himself in a new manner.

Takumi shot him a silent thankful glance. “Come on, you want to accept my challenge?” he asked.

“I was just reading in my room and wanted to…” Leo began but there were five pairs and one eye staring at him expectedly. 

“But Leoooo,” Elise drawled, taking out the bag of candies for him to see. 

“Ooh, tempting,” Niles said. 

“I for one, would totally fight for those,” Hinata said. 

“You’re married to one of our cooks, I don’t see why if you could just get one at any time,” Oboro said.

“That’s even more of a reason!” Hinata said. 

“Ugh,” Takumi said to his retainers, giving them a death glare. “You either play or you don’t. Winner gets the bag of sweets. Are you on?” he asked. 

Leo shook his head. “Yeah, sure. It’s getting stale, but let’s see this so-called training you and Elise have in store for me.” 

Takumi began by taking out his bigger pieces, purposely risking their lives, then by executing his pawns in ways that would save the bigger pieces. He tried to play without a core strategy and he noticed Leo was slower in his movements by comparison, which made him just as dangerous as always, but seeing his visibly hesitate instead of that having that smug look on his face was more than a welcome change in the group.

“It seems he’s putting up a fight,” Niles said while waiting for Leo to make his move. 

“Whoo! Go Takumi!” Elise cheered. The others followed. 

Leo turned from his seat. “Is everyone that against me?”

“Er, well you see, Milord, it gets a little...unexciting,” Odin said. 

“I was not aware my retainers have been this fickle.”

“You never commanded us to cheer for you,” Niles said. 

Takumi wanted to smack both of Leo’s men against the heads with each other as it made Leo a lot more aggressive in his playing style, but at the same time a lot more pigheaded. He couldn’t tell if it was a boon or a hinderance.

Leo’s queen was free and Takumi took her with his king, sweeping her away from the board.

“Yay!” Elise said. “No one’s gotten a queen from Leo in ages!” Takumi turned to the side and saw Oboro and Elise holding hands in suspense. 

“And they won’t again,” Leo said, “Checkmate,” capturing Takumi’s king.

Takumi fell back in his seat, feeling upset that he lost yet again even when trying out Elise’s strategy. The room’s mood soured as a whole.

“It’s time to pay up. Give me back the bag of confectionaries you stole from my box that you thought I didn’t notice,” he said, motioning Elise to give him the bag Leo sighed. “If it’s any consolation, that really was the best output I had ever seen from my opponents.”

Takumi had to shove the feeling of self-hatred and competitiveness aside. “You’re a phenomenal player, Leo.” He extended his hand and Leo shook it with his free hand. 

“I’m bored with chess. That’s all we ever play. Why don’t we try your game, show-gee?” He bit into one of the pieces.

“It’s shogi,” Takumi corrected for the upteenth time. “And yeah. But be prepared to lose,” he said, rising.

“I’ll be right here, enjoying my bag of sweets, which I won’t be sharing with my oh-so-fickle retainers.”

Odin lowered his head the way a child would while Niles once again had his poker face.

“But I’m feeling generous…” he brought a chocolate covered one forward and handed it to Takumi. 

“Yay! Now we’ve got a whole new game to spectate! Even better!” Elise said while both of them exchanged a glance and shook aside their retainer’s mostly immature behavior. Takumi laughed, remembering Elise’s words. He had to appreciate these small moments and enjoy himself. He didn’t know how long it was going to last.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of the support! It may be a little longer for the next chapter, but archery will definitely play a big role so look forward to that!


	7. A Hunting We Will Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takumi is tasked with hunting and experiences too many frights.

If there was anything Takumi liked to pull his weight with, it was hunting in one of the nearby outrealms. It was a task that he always had the option to do alone and there was nothing Takumi liked more than hunting in complete solitude. It was complicated business, as Takumi couldn’t venture too far out and couldn’t stay for too much time, but he had always caught his game. He preferred this much more rather than to work in one of the stores. Both Oboro and Hinata were much better suited for that kind of thing, anyway.

The day was clear and the woods were dense enough for him to hide and provide a cover for, but not dense enough for him to lose track of his prey. Lilith had always made sure to choose outrealms where it was currently spring and there was an overabundance of animals to hunt.

She also had to choose grounds away from villages in order for the army to avoid stepping on traps, yet Setsuna never failed to find one. Somehow Setsuna was the second best hunter after Takumi, a fact he always questioned, yet couldn’t provide an answer for because Setsuna always came back with more than enough game. Her hunting got even better once Percy joined the army, stacking their prey onto Ace, who carried their quarry. He was determined to outnumber them, even though he didn’t have a wyvern at his disposal.

Takumi had to admit he was jealous some of the members of the army were able to work in teams with their kids. These weren’t ordinary kids, either. They were raised in deeprealms, which already was enough to make them extraordinary due to the unstable way time passed, but what truly made them stand out was that had inherited their parents’ skills and determination to pull their weight. He remembered one moment, he saw Oboro play with Saizo’s kid, who was just out of his toddler years and the next, he was a quick-talking, teenage kid who spent all of his time in the kitchens, annoying his dad and fulfilling Aunt Camilla’s requests for sweets.

Takumi ventured forth. He didn’t really have a specific prey in mind as the army wasn’t too picky with their game. Anything usually did, but Takumi was looking for something meaty, something useful. Things that would make the ever-expanding army gasp and enjoy their feast.

He found himself in a calm, sunlit meadow and hid behind a rotten stump, as he heard a soft cantering. Minutes later, a stag appeared, his antlers huge, indicating he was likely the alpha male of this forest. Takumi decided to watch him, observe his movements. Waiting was the best possible idea, as he could follow him and see if he led him over to where his family was, or better yet, more prey.

The cantering grew louder and Takumi faced a sudden confusion as the stag wasn’t moving. He heard a whinny and the stag looked in his direction, prancing off.

“The hell?” Takumi whispered, still confused. He turned around, only to find Elise sitting on a horse that was far too big for her. “What?”

“Heya!” she said, waving.

“Elise! What in the world are you doing here?”

“I followed you, duh!”

He shook his head, trying to quell his rage. “I mean it! What are you doing here?”

Elise was smiling, the sunlight carrying over to her face. “Well,” she drawled, “I heard you were hunting and I saw that look on your face when Setsuna and Percy came back with all that stuff!”

“Okay, so?” he said, his rage increasing. Elise was unaffected by it.

“You can’t hide that look from me, I know you all too well when you’re feeling competitive!” Takumi wanted to yell at her for adopting that stupid phrase from her brother. Or was it Niles? Or Odin, even? “So I thought to myself. Maybe what you need is backup. That’s what Setsuna got and her luck went from nonexistent to crazy! I should know, because Arthur has the _worst_ luck! How Arthur and her were able to have a kid like that…”

Takumi’s rage turned into frustration. “Elise! This is really dangerous! Hunting isn’t something you just do!” He eyed the horse, who wasn’t Elise’s usual mare. “Also, that’s not your horse. Where did you get that?”

“Leo won’t miss him too much,” she said, patting him. The horse closed his eyes, allowing her to pet him.

“Leo’s gonna kill me! He’s gonna kill you!”

“Not if we get a nice angry boar he won’t!” Elise really had no concept of danger, did she?

“There’s no ‘we’, Elise. You’re turning back right now. It’s too dangerous and I don’t want you getting hurt. You’re far too...valuable for this.” Takumi nearly almost spat out “loved”, but he didn’t want his stupid anger to turn into a love confession. This was the worst possible time.

“No! I had to put all of these sacks on Leo’s horse and if I just have to stay here and watch you move, then I’ll do that!” Elise was determined to get her way and Takumi was more than determined to fight back.

“Elise, you saw that stag. Now he’s gone and he’ll never come back here after seeing us. You’ve done enough damage.” That’s when the tears poured in, which he knew was her trump card. He just had to be strong enough to endure that look.

“But Takumi...I wanted to be valuable and to help you, please! Just...give me one more chance. I always feel like you don’t see me the way I want to be seen. I don’t need your protection! I just...I just…”

He was back to confused again as she sobbed. If anything he saw her in a way that he couldn’t describe using simple words. He loved her more than anything. But he still didn’t want to concede to her tears. “Elise, hunting is not pretty or glamorous, especially for a girl like you.” He ran a hand over his ponytail. “We kill animals. Sometimes cute animals and we kill their families because our army is getting bigger and the bigger it gets, the more we have to do to survive.”

“The circle of life,” Elise said.

“Yeah, in other words. I’ve seen you feeding the birds that fly in the grounds and squealing at the rabbits with Benny. It’ll break your heart to see me end their lives and you won’t like me any better.”

Elise dried her tears. “I came here because I wanted to see what you do best. All everyone does is talk about how good you are at this and how the food you give us is amazing. I saw that look on your face and I wanted to be a cheerleader, you know?”

He rolled his eyes. “You’re a good person, Elise. And do you carry your weight in ways you don’t even notice. You’re not useless and the way I see you…” He didn’t know what to say. “You’re very special.”

Elise got off Leo’s horse and hugged him. She smelled like flowers to him. Takumi’s knowledge of flowers eluded him, so he had to generalize. Her grip on him was tight and intimate. It wasn’t like her past hugs or the ones she gave to her siblings or Sakura, even. He returned her hug.

_Confess, Takumi. Say something, you stupid coward. You’re alone and now’s the—_

He felt a quiver pouch on her back. His gaze fell on the horse who was also carrying a yumi on its side as well.

She had come armed and ready. He pulled back. “You wanted me to teach you some archery, too, right?”

The look on her face was more than guilty as she raised her hand to her face, drying her tears. “Yeah. Sakura’s lent me her bow when I told her I was practicing with you.”

“Which you haven’t,” he said, catching her lie.

“It _wouldn’t_ be a lie if you taught me just a little. I’ll be far back away from everything bad and I promise I won’t cry when you kill the bunbuns.”

“Please don’t call them that.”

“Rabbits,” she said, correcting herself. Takumi made a mental note not to target any rabbits while she was here. While that same thought coursed through his head, he realized he had caved. The hugging tactic did it for him and if he wasn’t careful, then she would continue to spin it to her benefit in the future.

“Please please _please_ let me tag along and help you and I can learn how to fire arrows and stuff!”

“Ugh, fine. But the moment it gets too stressful, I’m—”

“Yay!” she said, jumping up and down. She pulled him down and kissed his cheek. He looked away in an affort to not let her catch his stupid blush and the even dumber smile that was about to creep on his face.

“Come on, let’s get a move on. Maybe we might track that deer or something better. It’s going to be much more difficult to hide with that horse, but we’ll have to make with what we’ve got. Come on.”

 

They trotted and walked for a while as Takumi got a few shots in of fleeing pheasants and quails. It was enough for about three days from what it was worth and Takumi had to begrudgingly admit having Elise carry a horse around had it’s perks.

“You’re so amazing at all of this! I didn’t even think! Wow!” Elise said.

“I’m really not. I just happen to wield a divine bow.”

“I mean it! Those are such tiny targets and I always see you against human sized ones. Not to mention those little guys were fast!” Elise paused for a moment, her gaze falling from him to the forest then back again. “But it’s so obvious to me you practice like all the time. There so much...um, stuff! I don’t know any of the terms you archers use so I’m sorry.”

“It takes an equal amount of skill, balance, technique, focus, footing, form, raising, gripping—”

“Takumi!” she said, giggling. “You’re proving my point! You manage to get all of those points in seconds. Like, you don’t even think about it. It’s natural to you!”

“There’s still better archers out there.”

Elise rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. If there were, I doubt they would be holding something as powerful as that. Come on, I want to shoot at least once. Even if it’s at a tree.”

“Okay, come down from that horse, then.” She obeyed, getting off the the horse, bringing the yumi in tow with her. “Okay so what you’re gonna want to do is stand up straight. Hold your yumi with your left hand and draw the string with your right, got it?”

“Yup!”

“Most importantly, make sure you draw your hand behind your ear or else you’ll get hurt and it’s pretty evident you didn’t bring any of your healing staves. Archery can hurt you if you’re not careful.”

“Gotcha!” she said, winking at him.

“Elise, no! Do not look at me! Focus on your target! Have you picked one? Find one and cast your gaze. I’ll help you fire this one arrow, all right?” He eyed her at she focused on her target. He glanced over to the direction she was looking at and saw she was facing a large tree. He felt grateful, that way she had less of a chance at missing. “Good. Your arm is too high, relax it slightly,” he lowered her arm, “good, that’s it. Now your feet are at a forty degree angle, we’ll have to change that.”

“That’s really complicated.”

“It has to be exactly sixty degrees. Don’t look down and let me help you. Don’t move.” He bent down and fixed her boots. “You’re actually a good listener. Let me draw the arrow, okay...ready…” he had one hand on her waist and the other on her right hand. She way she was holding the arrow was going to ensure that it was only going to fly a short distance and wouldn’t even make it to the halfway point so he fastened his grip on her. “Aim…” He had never been this close to her before. Intruding thoughts came in telling him he could easily kiss her. He ignored them in an effort to not break his already fleeting concentration.

“Fire,” they both said, launching the arrow.

It had almost missed, striking the center left of the tree bark, close to the edge. Takumi left go of her as Elise dropped her yumi. “Whoo! I did it! I hit my target!” It was his most terrible shot in years and yet she was more than happy to have even hit the edge. “That was amazing, Takumi! Oh my gosh! I’m so happy!”

“That wasn’t bad at all,” he said, crossing his arms in an effort to ignore that it was a kind of an awful shot.

“It’s just as difficult as I thought! You’re a good teacher too! I’ve been watching you and I didn’t even notice the feet part.” Takumi didn’t think of himself as a good teacher. He was far too abrasive and commanding. His perfectionism was enough to intimidate others.

“Do you want to try again?” he asked. “I think you’re capable of getting a better shot at that tree.”

“Uh-huh! Just give me a moment, just standing in that position was more than tiring. No wonder you do all that training!” Elise wiggled her body in an effort to make herself comfortable. She picked up the yumi and repeated her actions, trying her best to get that sixty degree angle down. Her focus was impeccable considering her general personality, but Takumi figured that once Elise was set to do something, she typically tried her hardest to prove others wrong. This included himself.

“You’re much better this time, I think you did a decent job paying attention. The only problem is that you hold the yumi in a way that when you shoot, you won’t get the arrow ahead.”

“I’m a little vertically challenged, in case you hadn’t noticed.” It was true that Elise was petite, sporting short arms and dainty hands. It was a fact that she had visibly lamented, as all of her siblings were tall and lean and she got the short end of the stick. He had felt it too, as Leo often used his taller height to poke fun at him.

“That’s no excuse. You have to push yourself. You said so yourself. How do you want to be seen by me? By Camilla and your brothers and the entire army?” He was less on top of her this time, focusing solely on her aim and the strength of it. He had decided this would be the last time for today, as she was clearly already tired out.

“Okay, let go….now!” She released the arrow. It landed at a much better spot on the tree branch. Not quite in the center like he wanted, but it was closer, at least.

“Yay, I did it again! And it was even better! Thank you!” She was quick to get back on Leo’s horse again after her initial giddiness and exhilaration at trying. “Okay, I’m ready to keep going. We gotta catch something big this time!” He stayed close to the horse, trying to take apart its noises and focusing on the ones coming from everything around them.

He had motioned for Elise to be silent for the time being, something she was thankfully doing great at the moment.

“Takumi,” she whispered.   _Scratch that_ , he thought.

“Shhh.”

“Watering hole,” she whispered.

Takumi faced the watering hole, where all kinds of ducks and other water based fowl were floating. _Perfect_ , Takumi thought. _This would be more than enough_.

The ducks all of a sudden decided to fly out in that moment, as if provoked. “Huh?” Elise said, frowning. “But they can’t see us!”

“No, it means something else is coming.” Takumi debated for a second to unleash a few arrows at the ducks, but, “If I shoot at them, then whatever that’s coming is going to be scared off. They’d only fly away if something bigger than them is headed their way and Takumi wanted to haul something big.

He was hoping it was that stag again, even though carrying him next to Elise would likely freak her out. _We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, perhaps_.

Elise gasped as a large brown animal inhabited the area, all on its lonesome.

It was a giant boar, an animal that would be much more prized among the members of the army. Takumi knew if he caught this giant creature, the cooks, especially Mozu, would be able to make it work for the week or two and make it delicious to boot.

The only problem was that with arrows, boars were difficult to kill and this one was so fat that Takumi had to be careful, lest he provoked its wrath. He didn’t want it to go on the defensive and attack with its giant tusks. But the payload would be certainly more than enough. Despite Fujin Yumi being a divine weapon, the same rules of hunting still applied with it and he had to use caution.

“I need you to be absolutely quiet and if I miss, you need to get out of here. I mean it, Elise,” he whispered before she opened her mouth. “This is when it gets dangerous. And don’t make any noise because boars have exceptionally good hearing.”

“Okay. Good luck, Takumi. I believe in you,” she whispered back.

Takumi aimed his arrow at the boar, carefully locating for a killshot and the perfect opening, especially one that would allow him to get the shot right in between the eyes. The boar rolled around, some of the mud sticking to its fur, blurring the ways Takumi could possibly take it down in one shot.

He could hear Elise breathing slowly, as if in suspense, and he was the same too.

It was a high-risk, high-reward way to hunt, but he had to prove himself.

Takumi readied Fujin Yumi and fired. The boar squealed a dying cry and for a moment, he thought he got the killshot he needed. But the boar turned around. He had mistaken his front for his side, the mud being the perfect cover in sparing the pig. It did exactly as Takumi feared and charged at his direction.

“Elise, run!” he said, readying Fujin Yumi again. He had one more shot before the boar could strike at him. He aimed right between the eyes as it charged, its heavy body galloping. Its fat was making it difficult for him to strike, but he had to trust in his bow. The only problem was that as the boar got closer, Elise made no indication of moving. Even Leo’s horse was unfazed by the imminent danger that was currently presenting itself.

“Elise, why aren’t you moving?” he yelled, practically shrieking with worry, watching Elise scrambling in her satchel from the corner of his eye. He had to take action right now before the situation escalated even further, but his body was betraying him, his heart beating erratically and his vision blurry. Takumi swallowed, trying to gather himself. His stance wasn’t perfect and neither were his knees at the correct angle, but he had to quickly _do something_.

“Wait! Mjölnir!” she said at the same time Takumi fired his arrow.

The bolt of lightning struck right in the center of the boar’s body the moment the arrow pierced right through Takumi’s initial target between the eyes. The pig fell noiselessly into the ground, stopping in its tracks.

“I think we overkilled it,” Elise said.

Takumi was still fraught with worry and adrenaline. “Gods, Elise, why didn’t you listen to me? And why didn’t you tell me you brought a high-tier magic spell?”

“Um…Sorry. I stole that from Leo, too. I thought if we got into danger or were attacked I could cover for you like we do on the battlefield.”

_Surprise, surprise_ , he thought. _What didn’t she steal from Leo?_ Takumi ran his hands through his ponytail again with fright. “You scared me, Elise. You really scared me.”

“Sorry. I should go then. I thought maybe I could help.” Elise was legitimately despondent. “I mean, it was really cool to see you hunting but you’re right. None of it is for me and I interfered.”

She wasn’t wrong there. “I’m going to have to tell Xander all about this. You know that, right?” He didn’t like having to confront her eldest brother, but he figured they had the same priorities in keeping her safe.

Elise nodded.

“Now bring the horse closer to me. I need to tie this boar up and take him back home. We’re done for the next week or two, anyway.” Elise found the rope in her supply kit and began to tie it on one end of the horse while Takumi made his knot over at the boar.

“I’m sorry again, Takumi,” she said, now off the horse.

“Elise, you can be really reckless and I don’t know what I’d do if I ever lost you.”

“You won’t lose me, I swear it,” she said, her voice serious for once. Her hand found his and she held it. He was worried for a moment about having sweaty palms, but hers were just as bad as his were. It made enough sense, as they were rope-tying just minutes ago, but still. “Takimi, I just wanted to hang out. You know how you said I was special? That’s what you are to me too and I really, really wanted to see it in action. I don’t know if you’ll ever believe me, but...” she said, her voice soft, eyes downcast.

_Tell her you love her. Now’s the time._

“It’s fine,” he said awkwardly. “I mean, it’s not fine, but it’s fine.” _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ “We need to get home.”

 

Mozu was more than glad to have had a giant boar, but Xander was exasperated from seeing his youngest sister act so impulsively yet again later that evening when Takumi requested an audience with him.

“I’ll discuss the matter with Camilla and we’ll see what actions we need to take. I appreciate you informing me of all of this, but why did you not send her back immediately?” Xander asked, his brown eyes stern. Growing up, Takumi believed his brother was intimidating, but Ryoma was like one of his tinier Shiba Inus from back home compared to Xander, who reminded him of an Akita.

“You’re her brother, Prince Xander. _You_ ought to know why.”

Xander sighed. “Fair enough. You may have been an enemy once upon a time, but I can see she has wormed her way into your heart the way she does with everyone.” Takumi snorted, Xander didn’t know the half of it.

“I care about E-...Princess Elise just as much as anyone would.” This was the perfect time to ask Xander if he could have his permission to pursue her romantically.

“Your sisters don’t do this, now do they?”

“They have strong wills of their own, yes, but you can’t compare them to Princess Elise.”

“I’ve noticed.” Takumi eyed Xander. He had spent a fair amount of time with both Hinoka and Sakura, from what he could see. If Xander ended up somehow marrying one of them, then things wouldn’t be that difficult, would it? “And I respect them for that,” he finished. If Takumi didn’t know better, he could feel the hint of a smile creeping on Xander’s face.

“I can say the same, even if Elise goes too far at times,” Takumi said, surprised the chat had inexplicably turned warm. “I’m just glad we have the same priorities in order. If I have to distance myself for her safety, then so be it.”

“I see. I will discuss the matter further, but thank you for letting me know, Prince Takumi.”

They shook hands, making direct eye contact. Takumi now knew he had to say something about his feelings directly to Elise. He couldn’t keep it bottled in any longer. The only problem was as to when. And once that happened, he would have to explain that he could no longer be around her, even if it would break his heart in the process.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read up a little bit about hunting (I know the basic stuff, especially since people hunt where I'm from) and on the Kyudo method of archery, which I hope I got the barebones of. I've been trying to make it ambiguous as to which princesses Xander and Leo have been hanging out with because all four of those supports are A+ stuff. 
> 
> I think you all know what's coming next chapter...


	8. Tea Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Elise ambushes Takumi for a late afternoon tea party and a wild course of events spiral not long after.

Takumi didn’t give a damn about whatever Mr. Pigglesworth was and his lack of presence and especially so because it had the name “Pig” in it. After the other day’s incident, he wanted nothing to do with Elise and pigs lumped in the same sentence. It was worse knowing Elise had ambushed him like this despite telling her brother to practically restrain her from visiting him just two days ago. Takumi wanted to know what the hell Xander was doing that was such importance that his sister had to defy him...again. 

She had come in with her satchel during the late afternoon, this time carrying glass teapots and a container and who knows what else. He didn’t recognize these particular tea sets, but they looked Hoshidan, especially with the sakura leaves adorning the sides. They were handcrafted and had a delicate look to them. 

“Where did you get this?” he asked. It wasn’t Sakura, because he would have recognized it. Speaking of Sakura, she wasn’t hanging around the treehouse so he couldn’t have her substitute in his place for this occasion.

“Oh this! It’s Mitama’s! She and Effie lent me these. Aren’t they pretty?”

Takumi was aware of the affection Elise had with Percy and Mitama, being the children of her retainers. A part of Takumi wished he had that uncle-nephew relationship with Hisame, but the boy had a stern personality unlike his parents and instead treated Takumi with the distant, age-old respect retainers had with their lieges. He was too used to Oboro and Hinata’s laissez-faire attitudes and informalities that this came off as foreign to him. That, and he didn’t need a third retainer despite the boy’s efforts.

“They remind me of Sakura.”

“Mitama reminds me a little of her.” He couldn’t see how other than her shrine maiden uniform, which she looked like she slept in. “Anyway, eat up! Percy made me these marble cakes! They’re delish!” She smashed one into her mouth.

“I...would rather not today, if that’s all right,” he said, actively putting up a distant front. He had to start shutting her out now. 

Elise swallowed her cake and brought the teacup to her lips.“Oh okay! Then how about chess? Or did you want to read more books about Nohr?” Elise was being oblivious. He was hoping she’d get the message. He would have to be direct.

“No. Neither.”

Elise had finally wisened up, her face showing visible disappoint. “What? Why not? Are you too busy? I knew you did training in the morning and today was your day off, but…”

He shook his head. “No. It’s not like that. I just…” He met her gaze, losing the need to just cut her off. He couldn’t go through with being rude. “I’m not up for it today.”

“Takumi...do you not like me anymore?” There was something in her voice that was unfamiliar to him. Was Elise feeling genuine, legitimate fear? Not that childish fear she had a long time ago when Camilla chased after them, but actual terror. Takumi did not know what to say, despite there being a thousand things he wanted to let out and let her know. Elise began to gather her tea set and foods with a sense of franticness. “O...Okay...I thought we were just getting along. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” It was strange hearing Elise stammer like that and honestly quite troubling. She rose from her seat, ready to flee. 

Takumi took a deep breath. “Stop. It’s not like that. That’s not it.  _ I’m _ the one who should be sorry. Okay. Please sit down. Hear me out.” His heart beat madly against his chest. This was far more terrifying than any invisible enemy or rampaging boar. 

“Oh...o-okay,” she said with trepidation.

“I know I was cold to you at first, but that is the farthest thing from what I feel now. The more time we spent together, the more I was drawn to you. I do still like you, Elise, but now I find I like you as more than just a friend.”

Her eyes went wide, the rest of her body still.

“I put you at risk the other day and I don’t know how I could handle it if I lost you. And that’s why I can no longer spend time with you,” he finished, the words being a strange mix of being forced and natural. 

“What?”

“Because when I am around you, my blood heats up and my heart aches terribly. I can't be around you anymore if we are not together. It's too painful. I am sorry. This is just the way it has to be. You’re much better off without me.”

Elise’s eyes changed from fear to anger as if in a heartbeat. “ _ What _ ? You didn't even ask me what  _ I _ thought about all this! What if I like you too, you big dummy? We  _ CAN  _ be together! You just had to ask...And safety...I get it. But we’re  _ all  _ in danger here, Takumi. I thought I was protecting you because I wanted us to be a team! Just like in battle.”

“T-truly? It makes me so incredibly happy to hear you say that. But still...even if we put the issue of safety and war aside, we are both royalty from opposing kingdoms. We cannot be together. Too many would hate us—would do anything to destroy us. There are too many obstacles in our way. Xander could easily lose favor with his kingdom if you were to marry me. It could all fall apart.”

Elise got even angrier, placing both of her hands on her hips. The last time Elise had argued with him, she had resorted to tears and hugs, but this time she wasn’t ready to back down. “So? You're okay with living the rest of your life according to what others will think? You're okay with hurting me for the sake of some closed-minded dummies?” She was practically shouting. 

“I-I don't want to! But—”

Elise waved her hand. “Then you've got to at least try.” She rose from her seat again, placing her head on his shoulders. “Don't give up! I never will! I love you too much to ever give up. I will never stop fighting if it means I get to be happy with you.”

“Elise...I love you too. More than you could ever know. If that’s what we need to do and it’s best not only for me, but for you, then I must do what my heart demands and take what follows! If I must run away with you, I will! I promise!”

He kissed her forehead.

“Takumi…” she said, her words lingering. “Marry me. Marry me right now.”

“What? And  _ I’m  _ the one who is supposed to propose! Not you!” She giggled. 

“I promise after the war we’ll have the wedding we talked about.”

He pressed himself closer to her hair. “But what about you, Elise?”

“When I described your wedding to that night when Azama and Effie got married, I found myself wanting that too. It’s the last thought I have every night before going to bed and the first one when I wake up. And I see it every time I look at you.”

“Why don’t we wait, then.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want our brothers stopping us. I told you, I don’t care.” She shook her head, her pigtails shaking with her.

“Elise…” His thoughts were falling apart, he could barely form coherent sentences. “Will you marry me? Tonight?”

“Yes!” she said.

“Hey...is it…” The words left him. “Can I kiss you?” It would be his first ever if she agreed. 

“Please do!” He lowered, his mouth finding hers. Her lips were gentle, yet he felt an undeniable electricity surging through them. It felt as right and as natural as wielding Fujin Yumi, except Elise felt even more sacred than a divine weapon, gods be damned.

“Wow, that was perfect, Takumi,” she said, her cheeks red. Moments later, she got up from her seat. “Come on! Let’s go get Azama!”

 

The treehouses the newer families shared were decently sized in their own right. They were certainly more different than the ones Elise and Takumi had with with spiral staircases. These were more of a small neighborhood.

Elise entered Effie and Azama’s treehouse. “Effie? Azama? Someone here? Yoo-hoo!” she sang. 

“The princess wakes me. Boisterous and so so loud. Alone she is not.” Mitama was lying on a chaise, clearly asleep, her light blonde hair spilling everywhere. She had two ribbons at the end of her hair but they were dangerously close to unraveling.

“Where’s your dad? I need him!”

“Father is busy. Attending to his duties. My enjoyment dies.” Takumi snorted at Mitama’s overdramatic swoon.

“Oh, don’t be such a sourpuss, sweet one! We just need to find your father and he needs to marry us ASAP!”

“Aunt Elise in love? And with the Prince Takumi? Hearts are uniting.”

“Is she always like this?” Takumi asked. He had heard of Mitama’s on-the-spot haikus but invoking them in casual conversation? Especially after waking up, even?

“Eh, pretty much. You get used to it. Mitama, wasn’t your father training you for this too?”

“Training has finished. The gods now look upon me. My sleep is calling.”

“Decipher that, please,” Takumi asked. This girl was just as bad as her father. How did Effie even deal with this?

“Yeah, her dad used to wake up her early for training her in priest stuff, but she’s completed her training. She can marry us now since she can voice the approval of the gods. Or something like that. Something to do with the stars in her eyes.”

Takumi had enough with this girl and her way of speaking in riddles. “Speak normally, Mitama,” he commanded. 

“Ugh, yes, he is right. Sorry, I didn’t mean that. This is how I speak.”

“Mitama! Come on!” Elise yelled. “Will you marry us or not? Too scared?”

“No!” She said, rising from her chaise, giving a yawn. “I’ll cut the speech. I’ll marry you. The faster it takes, the faster I can get back to my sleep, Aunt Elise. That, and my mother would probably use me as a bench press if I said no to you.”

“You get used to it. It’s really fun!” Elise said, referring to her hangouts with Effie.

Mitama flew into her room, gathering books. Her hair was redone and brushed. “To the church we go. Dawn or Dusk Dragon? I am versed in both.”

“You know both?” Elise asked, surprised.

“Yes. Father has taught me all of the marriage rituals.”

“Whichever one is shorter, right Takumi?”

“Sure,” he said. 

“Dusk Dragon it is,” Mitama said. “For that one is much shorter. It is to the point.”

As they walked, both Elise and Takumi exchanged a small smile. His hand found hers and she squeezed it. 

“I love you, Takumi,” she whispered. 

“I love you too.”

Mitama yawned, clearly pretending to not be disgusted. She opened the church doors. “Oh no, this is gross. This couple cannot keep their hands off. Get a room.”

Azama stood at the center of the podium, his expression as unnerving as always as Oboro and Niles were exchanging a kiss that lacked subtlety and any semblance of sweetness. 

“Whoo! Go Niles!” Elise yelled, her voice echoing. 

They were much more prepared to marry than they were. Niles was dressed in some kind of suit while Oboro was wearing elaborate Hoshidan robes. They suited her, actually. He held her at the waist, but she let go, walking towards Takumi.

“L-Lord Takumi! What are you doing here?”

“Doing exactly what you came here for.” Her eyes flew from him to Elise. Niles had walked up from behind her, grabbing her at her waist. “You know, when I commanded you to be civil to this man, I didn't exactly mean for you to um, marry him, precisely.”

“Father, I have brought a couple for you to wed. I shall be going,” Mitama said, separating herself to speak with her father while Takumi and Oboro met. 

“Oh no you don’t, Mitama! You will follow in my footsteps and confer these two with the gods!”

“Does Leo know about this or did you intend on keeping him in the dark as well?” Takumi asked Niles, whose grin was usually a cause for concern but this was the one time it actually wasn't.

“See, Odin’s still on vacation with Kagero and I couldn't wait any longer to marry the love of my life.” So Niles fully knew the rules about waiting for vacation time. If Leo found out, he would be livid that he was out of retainers.

“Why,” Takumi asked Oboro, who was probably the saner of the two, though now that she tied herself down to Niles, Takumi was questioning that.

“I hated this piece of Nohrian scum,” Oboro began. “But he isn’t so bad once you get to know him. He’s actually pretty loveable.”

“I love it when you call me that,” Niles said to her ear. He adjusted his stance and focused on Takumi. “I should thank you and your other retainer. Too bad about the loss of the chess game, but I guess I won the real prize.”

Takumi still felt guilty for feeding her to the sharks, but it looked if anyone could handle him, it would be her. And she looked as happy as Elise did, her smile growing wide.

“Yay! True love strikes again!” Elise said as Mitama and Azama’s arguing grew louder. Oboro had wiggled herself from her husband’s grip and quickly fixed Elise’s hair, loosening her pigtails and parting it to the side. Takumi heard her lament about not having the proper makeup, but he ignored her. 

“Are you ready?” Mitama said, conceding to her father. 

“Remember to warn them,” Azama said, gently. Niles and Oboro took a seat in one of the podiums. Niles had his arm around Oboro’s shoulders.

“Right. Are you certain you want to reach spousal level with your person? Speak now or forever hold your peace. There is no looking back after you have bonded under the gods.”

“Good job, Mitama,” Azama whispered to his daughter in approval. Takumi could hear Oboro laugh at Azama’s nudging. Mitama shot her a glare, but it unfazed Oboro. It probably had to do with the fact that her star-like pupils weren’t quite meant for glaring. That, and Oboro was the queen of glaring.

“I’m certain!” Elise said.

Takumi nodded. “There’s nothing more I’d want.”

“Wonderful,” Mitama said with little emotion. “The Dusk Dragon represents the end of the day. A chapter has closed upon your lives, while a new one awaits. With your lover, you will end your days with them at your side and you will breath your last breath when they depart from this world. In the darkness, you will find each other and rise above.” She kept glancing at her father, who kept nodding at her words. “Ugh, this is terrible text, father. Why can’t I use my haikus?”

“Mitama!”

Oboro burst out laughing. Takumi shot her a glance. He caught Niles kissing her cheek when he thought he wasn’t looking. Maybe they were a good match after all.

“Let’s skip to the good part. Elise, do you—”

“That’s ‘Princess Elise of Nohr’, Mitama,” Azama said.

Mitama snapped the book shut in sudden frustration. “Princess Elise of Nohr, do you take Prince Takumi of Hoshido to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”

Takumi wasn’t familiar with this set of marriage vows, but they did agree to the shorter one. “Yes. Yes, I do,” she said. She looked ages older with her hair down. A long time had passed since they both joined the war and he could see it now.

“Good. Now, Prince Takumi of Hoshido, do you take Princess Elise of Nohr to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”

“I do,” he said formally.

“Then now, under the Dusk Dragon, and the Dawn Dragon by default, I pronounce you by the stars in my eyes to be lawful husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

“Good job,” Azama said, practically tearing up at his daughter’s speech. He hugged her as Takumi stared at Elise, his wife now. She really was beautiful and he knew after the war, her beauty would only continue to grow. He lowered, giving her their second kiss. She tasted sweet and lovely to him. She returned his kiss with the same amount of sweetness. 

He heard Oboro and Niles cheering from the pews, causing him to let go of her, even though it pained him.

Elise opened her eyes. He didn’t realize her eyelashes were so long and pretty. Mitama had broken the moment.

“Mitama takes leave, back to her sleep she will go,” she said prying herself from her tearful father, “do not disturb me.” She ran off, leaving a prideful Azama waving at his daughter. 

“She will be the best Priestess Hoshido has to offer,” Azama said, tearing up. Takumi was sure that at weddings, people cried for the bride and groom, not for the officiator. But whatever. He had a new issue to contend with. 

“And we will be off on our merry way, my beautiful wife and I,” Niles said, grabbing a sitting Oboro and lifting her up. He had practically run off with her in his arms as she waved and blew them a kiss, very much in a Niles style. 

He hoped she knew what she was getting into. 

Azama was the last to leave. “Tell Effie I said hi! And that when I get married again, she’ll be there for the big ceremony! She’ll understand!”

“Elise…” Takumi said. “My wife.”

“My husband!” she ran her fingers through his hair. “You have the best hair ever, by the way. I love you.”

“We need to tell Xander and Ryoma.”

“What?”

“They need to know. But if they put up a fight, then we’ll fight back. Together.”

Elise nodded as they saw the church’s candles flicker in the darkness. “I’m by your side. Forever.” He held her hand, feeling ready for the storm that was about to commence. 

They wandered around the barracks together, looking for their siblings, but none of them were to be found. It made Elise relax more, but Takumi’s anxiety had grown, knowing the longer he waited the worse it was going to be. 

Hinata and Peri were taking a moonlit stroll together from what it looked like, with Hisame sulking a few yards behind them. 

“Ooh! Lady Elise and Lord Takumi!” Peri said excitedly.

“Heyyyy!” Hinata said. “Hisame, come say hello to your uncle!”

“Lord Takumi,” Hisame said, bowing. “These two will not say it for they would rather babble on incessantly with their...pet names,” he said with disdain. “But High Prince Xander was looking for you two not very long ago for a late night meeting. He is at the war council room, waiting.”

“How funny! We were looking for him! And Hisame, you don’t need to call Xander ‘High Prince’ or anything. It’s not like he can hear you, you know!” Elise said. Hisame stiffened. 

“I will...consider that impetuous rationale if it so suits him, but alas for now it shall not.” His parents proceeded to hug him and shower him with embarrassing affection.

“Sheesh,” Elise said. Takumi internally agreed at the kid’s need to loosen up. “We won’t be embarrassing parents like them or Azama, will we?”

Takumi froze. “Let’s not think about that right now. We need to focus on Xander and Ryoma.” He held her hand tighter as they walked in the direction of the war council room. “Hopefully not,” he said, answering her question. He was afraid that Xander had somehow found out about their secret wedding. 

All of their siblings were sitting in the roundtable, save for Corrin and Azura, who were probably off handling skirmishes and training the newer recruits of the army. Xander sat in the highest chair, next to Ryoma. Takumi saw the mahogany tables were barren, their maps put away. Takumi couldn’t bear himself to separate from Elise, but she took her place next to Leo while he sat in between his sisters. 

Sakura had that same nervous look on her face. Takumi knew she hated meetings, especially in the war council. He hadn’t expected to see her here, but she was practically shaking in fear. 

“Shh, Sakura, it’s okay.” She was older than Elise, but in some ways, they were massively different. He shot a glance at Elise, who gave him an affirmative smile. 

Xander cleared his throat. “Good to see everyone has made it to our meeting. We would not proceed until our final additions have arrived. This is a meeting between two families, not two nations. For years we have waged war on each other, Nohr pillaging Hoshidan villages for rations, and Hoshido striking back with full force, but with our efforts, I have seen the error of our ways, and I apologize for the way us Nohrians have acted.”

Xander paused. Sakura’s hand found Takumi’s. Her hand was warm. He glanced over to Hinoka, who was returning his gaze, and Leo, whose eyes were on his brother. Xander closed his eyes, softly murmuring something about bunnies and continued.

“I have seen the way for a better future and I have promised someone I would do the best for our people. All of them. Hoshidans and Nohrians alike.” Sakura had squeezed his hand tighter and he felt something hard on her hand. No, not her hand… “I did not expect to have fallen in love with such a strong willed daughter of Hoshido. She is quiet, yet she has so much to say with her eyes, telling a thousand words. Through her, I have found my resolve to keep fighting and I would like for all of you to accept my future queen.”

“What?” Ryoma said, watching both of his sisters. Now that Takumi looked at Ryoma, he was without his usual chin armor, which he only took off for bed for for ceremonies.

“Hey, it’s not me!” Hinoka said as Takumi felt Sakura’s ring on her finger. 

“Um…” Sakura said, failing to meet everyone’s gaze. “ _ Ryoma please don’t hurt my husband!” _ she yelled, her hand squeezing Takumi’s so hard, he was sure it was blue. 

“Gods,” Leo said. 

“Yay!” Elise squealed! “I have a new double sister! And it’s my best friend!”

“Double?” Leo said, catching on, looking at both Takumi and Ryoma. 

“What madness is going on here?” Hinoka said.

“Oh? How adorable!” Camilla cooed. “I did not expect this one but it’s quite a lovely match.”

“Which one  _ did _ you expect, sister?” Leo said through gritted teeth. 

“Why, those two,” she said and gave what Takumi was pretty sure was a wink. She laughed moments later.

Takumi forced his hand away from Sakura, his eyes on no one in particular. “No, you’re right.” He swallowed his fear. If Xander did it, then why couldn't he do it too? “I love Elise and we just got married under the Dusk Dragon.”

“Wellllll, technically, Mitama did it under Azama’s supervision, but it was great!” Elise said. “So now I have three more siblings! Hinoka, she did so great! I’m so happy we share Mitama and Percy!”

Hinoka placed her head down on her desk in response, completely embarrassed by her two younger siblings’ brash behavior.

Leo shook his head. “Are you serious? Are there any other stupid weddings that have gone on without me or anyone else knowing? Speak now!”

“Leo…” Xander said. Sakura rose from her seat, standing next to Xander. His gaze softened, but Takumi was able to see her stance grow a lot more confident next to him. 

But this was growing a lot more unpredictable as ever. 

“Niles and Oboro married moments before we did,” Takumi said. Leo mirrored Hinoka’s actions and placed his head on the desk. 

“I’m all out of retainers!” he cried to himself.

“It was such a nice wedding, too! Oboro wore the prettiest dress!” Elise said, not helping Leo’s despondency.

“We ought to celebrate our joyous unions, right, my adorable awkward lobster?” Camilla said. Takumi was unsure if she was just flirting or if there was something deeper there. Ryoma was oddly silent the entire time as if trying to process this mental overload.

“Ugh!” Leo groaned louder. 

“So you  _ won’t _ kill us?” Takumi said to Xander. “At least me for secretly marrying your sister.”

“No, as long as you swear by my sword that you will treat her right.”

Takumi nodded. “I swear by it.”

“Then, of course. Camilla had warned me of you two spiriting off, so it comes in as no surprise.” Xander had exchanged a small, knowing smile. Sakura had met his gaze and he held her hand.

Camilla was the first to rise. “Let me go get my little Asugi to celebrate these momentous occasions with some bonbons and other treats. Ryoma, come with me, darling.”

Takumi’s eyes found Elise and relief poured in, knowing that the hurdle of their families was somehow overcome, despite it going completely off the rails, but everything was going to be all right now that he knew Elise was going to be with him forever. It made the world seem less scary and daunting now that he had found someone to share everything with. 

And for that, he was excited to see what was in store.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And the award for biggest scene-stealer goes to Mitama, who I somehow found to be an absolute joy to write. I didn't plan on her being a key part of the elopement scene like at all, but since she's got a connection to Elise, I figured (it also helps she's my favorite of the four Hoshido girls). I think I might do two more chapters, but my the next idea will likely include Kiragi.


	9. Birthdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takumi and Elise go to visit their son's deeprealm. Fluffiness ensures.

Every moment of every day Takumi felt that desperate need to go and visit his son over at his deeprealm. He hated the very idea of it, especially on the child’s part, but a part of him also felt the need to agree with how there was no way they could grow up seeing such atrocities and their parents fighting. He had seen some of the kids turn out better than alright, like Percy, Mitama, and Hisame, the latter especially, knowing who his parents were, and only a few not totally all right, namely Rhajat.

He tried to be unlike some of the other fathers and made the attempt to make his visits frequent at Kiragi’s home every moment he could, but it was getting more and more difficult with the situation in Valla and his requirement in assisting Corrin and Takumi’s own family while the rest of the army centered their work on guarding the base from invaders and in missions that required help from other realms facing these invisible soldiers and other threats, which he was sometimes forced to take a part of. The fact that they were ever increasing as they got deeper into the mysteries of Valla made the requirement for more troops essential, which was the one upside to the deeprealms.

Elise was feeling the same about being without Kiragi, yet was affected in an entirely different way than Takumi had been. While he was antsy, she was longing, as if a piece of her was missing. Takumi thought that by being with Elise, he would have already had everything he ever needed, but Kiragi was the other part of the equation he didn’t consider. 

She made the attempt to give out mixed signals on her dejected state, appearing bubbly and happy, but there was something about her that would slip up, like she would say a word differently or her eyes would lose their shine and mirth for a moment. 

She had just come back home from her shift at the clinic, feeling exhausted. Even though the living arrangements changed, he still lived in the same treehouse while Sakura moved to be with Xander.

“Hey Takumi,” she said, walking in, dropping her satchel. She looked exhausted. It was strange knowing that long ago, he didn’t take her presence seriously even in the slightest. This army could have fallen apart without her help and in healing others. He felt like an idiot for his past actions, his previous outbursts against her. But now he understood how precious she was.

“Elise,” he said, watching her take a seat, completely drained. “How was work?”

“My staff broke, but I got a new one. I love the feeling of a new staff!” Her words had that edge again to them where she was a lot more depressed than she let on. 

“Elise…” he said with worry.

“Hmm?” she said, pretending to be unaware of his concern. 

“I miss him too.”

She gasped, her mouth wide. “How’d you know I was thinking about him?”

“Because that’s what I’m always thinking about, too.” He sat besides her, holding her hand. 

Elise burst into tears. “Effie wasn’t like this when she left Mitama!” Takumi never knew what to exactly do whenever Elise was in this state and it wasn’t directed at him. 

“You and Effie are different people, Elise. And besides, it’s only a matter of time until Kiragi is old enough to decide if he wants to join us.” Takumi had to keep his logical side up for both of their sakes.

Elise looked up. “I know. But no one told me how hard it was gonna be!”

Takumi decided that was it. He couldn’t stand to see Elise cry. No matter what it was, her crying always brought forth a need for him to spring into action. ”Come on. Let’s go.”

“Huh?”

“Let’s go see Kiragi. Right now.”

“But it’s so late!”

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We need to see our son right away for both of our sakes and sanity. And we’ll only be gone for a few days his time.” He still didn’t get how his deeprealm functioned in correspondence to the time passing in the barracks, but in saying that, Elise calmed and nodded, which seemed to have done the trick.

Both of them quickly got their things and walked to the gates that led to the Dragon’s Gate, which was some kind of station for realm traversing. He didn’t quite get the large scheme of things. There were stable realms like the ones where the barracks were located; deeprealms, which Corrin had explained were pocket locations which were tinier by dimension and thus time traveled faster; and then there were the main locations like the world where Nohr and Hoshido stood. There were apparently other dimensions where other worlds stood, according to what he was told, but getting to those required magic and power of a god, essentially.

“Hi!” said a redhead standing at the gate. Takumi had seen her around plenty of times before. Or did he? She was a redhead and that should have made her distinctive, but each time he saw her, she claimed he saw one of her sisters during a previous visit and yet they all had the same appearance, name, and personality. Takumi didn’t know how that was possible, but asking the question and figuring that equation would be an answer only the gods knew.

“Hi Miss Anna!” Elise said, waving at her. “My husband and I are going to visit a deeprealm to see our son. He’s in I think 8A, or 8B, what was it again?”

“It’s one of the hunting based ones.” The only choice they had in the matter was in the environment they wanted to have their child grow in. They both agreed it would have to be a forest type of location with the four seasons, with animals to hunt.

“Oh, it’s 8A! That’s a big one! But you know the deal!” Anna said motioning her hand forward. 

Elise looked into her satchel, giving her a large bag of coins that was supposed to cover the round trip.

“Oh yes! Come to mama!” Anna said, hugging the moneybag. “Okay, just step in right through there and wait for about five to ten. See you in a little bit!”

They were in Kiragi’s world in seconds, as Anna promised. It was daytime there, unlike in their world and the sun was shining bright and the trees evergreen. It was also unfathomably warm. They were used to the barrack’s constant fair weather. Takumi began to feel sweat coming down his forehead in seconds.

“Ewww!” Elise said, as a junebug landed on her shoulder. 

Kiragi’s deeprealm was definitely one of the bigger ones, but there was a small village that was located in the center. 

Kiragi lived in a spacious log cabin, one of the biggest homes there, if not the biggest and Takumi had the key to enter. Elise followed him not longer. His cabin was rustic in nature, with wooden stairs, a wooden panel, and walls from logs chopped off to make this home.

“Kiragi?” he said, walking in. Elise found his hand, holding it tight. There was the very real possibility that Kiragi could have ended up looking and being older than the two of them, much like Rhajat was with Hayato, or so she claimed. She also claimed to be the same age as Nyx, but her mother laughed in her face.

“Kiragi!” Elise said, eyeing the empty living area. “Could he be upstairs?”

“Mom! Dad!” They heard a tiny voice coming from the top of the stairs, answering Elise’s question moments later. His tiny legs sped down the stairway and into Takumi’s arms. “Mom! Dad! It really is you!”

He was certainly older than when they last saw him. But his appearance was striking. Elise gasped. 

“Takumi! He looks just like you!” Other than his light blond hair, he was another Takumi, visually speaking. He had inherited Takumi’s exact face from when he was a child, down to the exact shade in his eyes. Kiragi’s eyes had lightened since the last time he had seen him. Or maybe it was because of the season. He even wore the same colors Takumi often wore, but better attuned for the season.

Kiragi beamed at the two of them. “Just like dad!” Kiragi had hugged Takumi even tighter. Takumi bent over and picked his son off the ground, placing him over his shoulders. 

“We missed you!” Elise said. 

“I missed you too! My birthday wish has come true!” 

Takumi set his son down, he was getting too big for him to lift. “Kiragi,” Takumi felt the question would be odd but he had to know, “how old are you?”

Kiragi lifted his hands and showed seven fingers. “I turned seven just last week!”

“Oh wow!” Elise said. “I'm sorry we're a week late! But that means we're just gonna have to celebrate it even more, right, Takumi?” She looked over at him. Takumi nodded.

“Yeah!” Kiragi cried out, jumping up and down. “Oh, mom, dad! Let's go out into the village!” He excitedly grabbed both of their hands. 

Takumi saw Elise stifle a yawn. “Hey, Kiragi, do you mind if me and your mother settle down for a little bit? Just for a moment.”

Kiragi pouted. “Oh, okay dad! Don't be too long!” 

They went upstairs while Kiragi played with stuffed animals below, including a teddy bear Elise gifted him when he was smaller.

They had a room here in the deeprealm that was just as nice as the one back at home, if not nicer. “He looks just like you, I'm so amazed!” she said. “He’s so cute!”

“He does, but he's got your personality down pat.” Elise dropped her satchel and sat down at the foot of the bed. “You're tired. You should sleep.”

“But Kiragi,” she said. He took a seat next to her.

“He'll spend more time with you later, I promise.” Takumi loosened Elise’s hair, kissing her forehead. “I also wanted us to take a quick break from it all. You need it more than I do, Elise.”

“So do you.”

“But you're hardworking.” She leaned into his arm. “Just think of it as a second honeymoon, except with our son.” 

She gave him a soft smile reminiscent of earlier days from when he started to fall for her. “I love you so much, Takumi. You know, you're the sweetest person ever!” 

“Actually, you are, Elise. I just happened to get roped into your orbit.” She brought him down to her level for a kiss.

“I should go attend to Kiragi. Rest up, okay?” 

Takumi left her, closing the door. Kiragi was standing on one end of the room, pretending to shoot an arrow at the stuffed toy Elise gave him.

“Hey there, Kiragi! Whatcha doing, little man?” he asked.

“I'm being just like you, dad! I'm hunting and getting a big old bear for us to feast on! I've got my bow and my arrow and I'm ready to shoot!” He lifted his hands again, taking the imaginary bow and arrow, making a noise that indicated he shot the toy. “I got him, dad!”

“Where'd you get him? The eye or the heart?” He walked over to the bear. “Show me.” 

Kiragi pointed right in the center. “I'm a good shot, just like you! Right in the center!” He grabbed the bear, slinging it around his shoulder. “Let's go to the kitchen, dad!” He walked behind his son to the kitchen, where he pretended to cook the bear and make a meal. 

“Color me impressed, son. What are you gonna do now?” 

“I'm gonna have him made for your army! It's gonna be a big feast! And you and mom are the guests of honor!”

Takumi couldn't help but smile at his son's cuteness. It really was like he had inherited Elise’s temperament but with his interests.

“Kiragi, let's go out on the town, just you and I.”

“And mom?”

“She's been working hard lately. She'll join us later after she rests, all right?”

“Yay!” Kiragi tackled his dad, hugging his leg. “Dad, carry me!”

He obliged, holstering his son over his shoulders once more. “Hold on tight!” he told him, feeling Kiragi bend down and slump his head over his.

They made their way out into the village, where there was a small marketplace lined up with all kinds of foods and items for sale.

“Maybe we should cook something for your mother, huh?” Takumi offered.

“No, I'd rather go hunting!”

“You're too young for that right now and hunting is very dangerous for the two of us.”

“I wanna grow up and become a good hunter and fisher like you!” he said, raising his hands up high from above him.

“All in due time, Kiragi.” Takumi repositioned his shoulders, feeling the weight of his son on them numbing him. He eventually set him down after a while.

Takumi picked up some fish and some vegetables for them to eat. Takumi had learned that gathering vegetables was something of an impossible process as Kiragi was adamant on his dislike of them, yet Takumi had to explain it was the only way for him to grow strong. 

He realized he would have to later gather with Elise and talk about how they had to be mindful of their every action, as it could impact the child. Already, he had seen it come into fruition with the other kids, sometimes for the more negative.

They had come home to a passed out Elise lying on the rug in the living area, holding the bear Kiragi was playing with as a pillow. Clearly, that wasn’t where they left her. 

“Dad, what’s mom doing?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll find out eventually.” 

“Mom! Hey!” Elise stirred in her sleep.

“Shh! We’ll wake her.” Takumi grabbed her by the waist and picked her up, carrying her to the bedroom with Kiragi following close behind. 

“Taku…” she murmured while he set her down again, “freezer...Take them out...later.”

“What’s she saying, huh?” Kiragi said moments after, having no control in the volume of his voice.

“Shh! Let’s find out.” They went back downstairs and checked the freezer where there was a small tray of bonbons being laid out to freeze. “Oh, Elise.”

“What are those?” Kiragi asked.

“Candies.”

“Mom made us candies?” he asked excitedly. “Ooo!” Kiragi jumped close to the tray, almost swiping them.

Takumi extended his arm, grabbing him by the back of his shirt. “Kiragi, no! If you touch them, they’ll get ruined and you don’t want to ever see your mom get disappointed. Trust me, I found out the hard way.”

Takumi figured he would give it at least two hours before taking them out. They left the freezer room before they started to freeze, especially Kiragi, who was starting to shiver.

“Dad, why is mom so tired?” Kiragi asked while Takumi began to cut up the fish. Takumi was quick to realize his son had reached the age where everything was a question and he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to divulge. He didn’t want another Selkie, who had no concept of life and death, but he didn’t want to scar his son, either. 

“Your mother is a medic. She treats us day and night and she covers shifts with a lot of other people.” Takumi grabbed a pair of scissors and began to trim the fish’s fins.

The answer only brought more confusion in Kiragi’s face, his brown eyes showing how perplexed he was by everything. “But I thought she was a princess!”

“Kiragi, you can be a princess and also a medic. Just like how I’m a prince and a soldier.” The issue of Kiragi knowing of his status of royalty was something he and Ryoma had heavily disagreed upon. Ryoma thought that if their sons knew of their status of being a prince, it would add to the burden of being a soldier, but Takumi’s main argument was that Ryoma wasn’t thinking in the long run. Yes, Kiragi had a small chance of becoming the king of Hoshido and an even smaller chance of becoming king of Nohr, but he wasn’t going to shield that information from him.

“Oh!” Kiragi said, making a surprised face that resembled Elise a lot more than he did. Elise had marveled earlier about how their son resembled Takumi so much, but under repeated exposure, one could easily see the Elise parts of him shine through, especially in his expressions. Kiragi had gathered the discarded fins and threw them in the trash. Takumi was surprised to see how obedient his child was having done this without asking. “So mom helps those who are sick and hurt, then?”

Takumi nodded. “Yes. Your Aunt Sakura does that, too.”

“Oh yeah!” Kiragi said, his eyes lighting up. “I have aunts and uncles, too. Dad, just how big is our family?”

Takumi’s focus went to his son for a moment. “Very, very big.”

“Do I have cousins, too? Other brothers or sisters? Will I ever be able to play with them?” 

“No brothers or sisters, if you had one, I would try and have you two grow up together.” He always looked at Azura in disdain over having Shigure separated from his sibling “But you have lots of cousins. When you’re older or they’re older, you’ll all meet. Especially if the war is over.”

“Aww, I really wanna meet them, dad!”

“Kiragi, I’ve only met your cousins once and they were just born. But don’t worry, you’ll meet them someday.” He continued to prepare the fish, teaching Kiragi the basics of cooking and preparing food. Takumi was a mediocre cook in the army, a fact that went noticed early on, as he was passed up for others like Mozu, Jakob, and Peri, but it was important for Kiragi to learn basic survival.

Elise had woken up hours later after the fish was fully cooked. By then, Takumi had laid out the tray of bonbons outside in the kitchen next to the fish and vegetables. She had caught them playing their earlier game with the bear, where Takumi would make Kiragi close his eyes as he would hide the bear in different spots in the room and Kiragi had to distinguish where it was, which he did with an astonishing amount of quickness. During each round, Takumi would increase the difficulty, hiding the bear in the wooden panels where the stairs were located, where it would blend in with it’s light brown color, yet Kiragi found it with just as much speed as previous times.

“Hey, what are you two doing?”

“Oh mom! You’re up! Dad and I were playing a game with our bear.” Kiragi pointed at the bear hanging out at the foot of the stairs.

“You mean Sir Bearington?” Elise said, picking it up. Kiragi was by her side in seconds.

“Yeah! He’s a great target, you know? Dad’s teaching me all sorts of things like how to spot the bear and shooting and cooking and everything!”

“Tell me more!” Elise said, winking at Takumi. He took his cue to go to the kitchen and fix their plates while the two of them talked.

They ate their food together, this time with Elise handling all of the questions. Takumi got the sense that Kiragi wasn’t as interested in magic and healing as much as he was in archery and hunting, only showing interest when Elise brought up how to clean a wound and other methods of survivability. 

“Oh, mom! What’s those candies you made?” Kiragi suddenly asked. Takumi had almost forgotten Elise had prepared the bonbons.

“Oh, the bonbons! I almost forgot!” Elise scrambled out of the table. She came out in seconds. “I wanted to make you these for your birthday! I don’t really know how to make cake without messing it up, but I can make bonbons!” She brought the tray over to him. “I saw you had spare chocolate and, well…”

Kiragi snatched one up without question, popping the entire thing in his mouth much like Elise would. Takumi eyed her, letting her know that he had inherited as much from her as he did from him. 

“How do you like it?”

Kiragi swallowed. “It’s delicious, mom! So good! Can I have another?”

Elise laughed, her laugh reverberating around the room like she was known for doing. Her laugh was contagious, something that would even spread over to Takumi, especially when it was as genuine as this one was. “Yes! It’s your birthday! Have as many as you please. Except leave some for your dad and me. We did that to your Aunt Camilla once and...” She laughed at the memory, winking at Kiragi.

“This was actually one of the things that brought your mom and I close together,” Takumi said, finishing his bonbon..

“Oh! Tell me! Tell me!” Kiragi said, the bonbon in his mouth.

“Well, it started when I tried to introduce a game called chess to your dad…” Elise began.

 

Kiragi had insisted on sleeping with the two of them and neither Takumi and Elise didn’t mind having him in between. He was a sweet kid and Takumi loved the feeling of holding the two of them close at arm’s length. 

Yet when the sun was barely bright, he heard Elise moving. Her sleep schedule was out-of-sync, but Takumi needed to have a chat with her without their son around. He roped her over at the kitchen, where he was certain he wouldn’t hear them speak. Takumi had trained his ears to attune to his son’s footsteps.

“Every time I see him, I can’t help but fall for him more,” Elise said, hugging Takumi. 

“You’re telling me,” he said, returning her embrace. “The more we hang out, the more he reminds me of you. It’s hard not to fall in love with him, especially since he’s another you.”

Elise brought her arms back to herself. “You really think so?”

“I know so. Elise, he’s a special kid. You should spend the morning with him. We’ll leave later this evening.” Her eyes wavered, but she knew it was coming. 

“I know…” she said, dejected. 

“We need to get him a birthday present. I was thinking of fashioning him an iron bow. I’ll arrange a tutor for him to learn the basics of archery with.”

“That sounds great!” Elise said, her voice louder than the whispers he was trying to keep up with. 

“Does it? I wasn’t sure if it was the best of ideas. I don’t want Kiragi to be like some of the others and we all know how prone I am to messing things up. I could easily be the worst dad in the world.”

“Don’t say that, Takumi! Elise said, hugging him again. “You’re an amazing dad and you’re so good with kids! Stop selling yourself short.” Elise hugged him tighter. “Besides, he looks up to you. Giving him a bow is going to change his life.” Elise stopped her embrace, moving over to the cabinet where she found eggs and began to cook. 

Kiragi came over seconds after she served the meals, as if he were summoned. “Mom, you’re such a good cook!” he said. “You make the best fried eggs!” he hastily ate.

“Hey little man, I was thinking that you could spend this morning with your mom while I run some boring errands for you.”

Kiragi pouted, his face once again looking exactly like Elise’s, especially when she first joined the army some time ago. How Elise didn’t see the resemblance was beyond him. “Okay...”

“You know, I brought my book of fairy tales over for us to read,” Elise said. “I know! Let’s start with Snow White. You’ll probably like that one,” she said, winking at Takumi again, which was his cue to leave. 

 

He had come back hours later. His errands were indeed boring, involving basic methods of housekeeping such as his son’s tutors, checking up on his studies (which was his one area of general disappointment with Kiragi, who was said to be a distracted child despite being intelligent, meaning he would have to double up on it because no son of his was going to fail in his studies), making sure everything went as smoothly as possible, and lastly, commissioning a local blacksmith to forge a yumi for him.

Takumi had come back to his son’s home watching a sleeping Kiragi’s hair being stroked by Elise, whose lap he was sitting on. They were sitting on a sofa in the corner of the living area by the unused fireplace.

He set the yumi aside, while Elise slowly brought Kiragi’s against a pillow. “It’s pretty!” she said, marveling at the bow. “It reminds me of the one I borrowed from Sakura that one time!” She took off one of her bows from her hair. 

“What are you doing?”

“Well, it doesn’t look like a birthday present and since we can’t wrap it around tape, we’ll have to do the next best thing!” She bent down, sticking her bow against the yumi’s side. “Besides, I’m sure Oboro can make me another one of these.”

“You can try,” he said, feeling unsure of how his best friend would help.

Oboro was also currently going through separation anxiety like they were, sewing, putting together clothes, and cleaning more than ever before, a habit she did when she was overstressed, becoming yet another example of how the deeprealms heavily affected the parents as well. In just a few hours, they would be forced to leave him again and they would go back to being examples.

“There! All perfect!” Elise said, placing the bow right on the yumi’s base. “He’s gonna love it!”

Kiragi stirred. “Mom?” he murmured, getting up. He rubbed his eyes. 

“Kiragi!” Elise said. “Your dad and I got you something for your birthday,” she said, her voice excitable once again. Elise said he was great with kids, but honestly, so was she. “Come here so you can see it!” Her hand found Takumi’s, gripping in anticipation. 

He got up, his gaze immediately on the yumi. “What’s that?” he said, his eyes wide. He pounced on the yumi, touching it as if it were to just disappear, that look of wonder so evident in his entire countenance.

“We made you a brass yumi, little man.”

“So I can be just like you, dad!” Kiragi said, barely unable to contain his voice.

“Yup! And even better.” He jumped up and down, tackling his parents to the ground, yumi still in hand. “I got some of your tutors to start teaching you properly.”

“You’re gonna be an amazing archer someday!” Elise said. Takumi saw she was hit by the yumi due to their son’s clumsiness, but she didn’t seem to mind, enjoying her son’s embrace.

Kiragi cheered harder, hugging them both. “Oh thank you so much! Mom, dad, you’re the best ever! I’m gonna make you so proud of me, just you wait and see!”

Takumi gazed over at Elise, who was smiling wide. Kiragi was too young to know it, but he was already proud of the two of them. He just hoped he would someday understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the mini hiatus. Life, y'know? That, and trying to polish this as well as other works. Thank you so much for over 100 kudos! I love you guys so much!


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